Small Things

17 June 2018

I’ve titled my blog and today’s post, “Small Things”, inspired by the famous Mother Teresa quote, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” The idea for my blog was to share bite-sized reflections on the daily gospels. Sometimes my posts are definitely bite-sized and other times they are a little too much, but the sentiment was to ponder how the small things fit into the big story. Some examples of small things turned into big stories: one small stone slayed a giant, one small manger carried one small baby King, one small piece of bread holds the Creator of the universe, one small whisper is the voice of God. 

One of my favorite art forms is the mosaic. St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy is completely covered in mosaics on the inside. I could honestly stare at a mosaic for hours fascinated at how the thousands, or millions of tiny pieces of pottery, glass, stone, or whatever can be joined together by an artist with mud or mortar or glue, to create beautifully detailed masterpieces from human faces including expressions, to animals, to landscapes, to anything else a paintbrush can. I often think of the time and care spent by an artist to choose each piece and placement and how they all seem to fit together even in their unique and odd shapes. I think about how an artist can look at a broken or trashed dish, bowl, or chalice and see that their brokenness can now be used for something that will marvel and astound everyone that looks at it. I think about how mosaics can be appreciated up close because the fine details can be really examined and at the same time if you stand back and look from afar, you can clearly see the vision that each piece was used to create. It seems to me that this might capture the message of today’s gospel. 

The parable of the mustard seed is likely a crowd favorite. We get it – the smallest seed turns into the most abundant plant. We love rooting for the underdog or the little ones!! In another story, Jesus uses the mustard seed in regards to faith, but in today’s gospel he uses it to define the Kingdom of God. Seems like an artist using small things to create a beautiful, marvelous, work of art, doesn’t it? Your small things collected along the way, broken and in pieces, and my small things collected along the way, also broken and in pieces, placed in love by the Master Artist, mortared in the blood of Jesus, and solidified by the breath of the Holy Spirit, make one big story of redemption, triumph, and absolute beauty. 

Small things done with great love show just how big God is and that His Kingdom is made up of each one of us, beautifully broken, but repurposed for glory! Have a small things kind of day and it is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 EZ 17:22-24

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar,
from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot,
and plant it on a high and lofty mountain;
on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.
It shall put forth branches and bear fruit,
and become a majestic cedar.
Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it,
every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.
And all the trees of the field shall know
that I, the LORD,
bring low the high tree,
lift high the lowly tree,
wither up the green tree,
and make the withered tree bloom.
As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.

Responsorial Psalm PS 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16

R. (cf. 2a) Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
to sing praise to your name, Most High,
To proclaim your kindness at dawn
and your faithfulness throughout the night.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,
like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.
They that are planted in the house of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
They shall bear fruit even in old age;
vigorous and sturdy shall they be,
Declaring how just is the LORD,
my rock, in whom there is no wrong.
R. Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

Reading 2 2 COR 5:6-10

Brothers and sisters:
We are always courageous,
although we know that while we are at home in the body
we are away from the Lord,
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Yet we are courageous,
and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.
Therefore, we aspire to please him,
whether we are at home or away.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
so that each may receive recompense,
according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower.
All who come to him will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and through it all the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”

He said,
“To what shall we compare the kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.