WE GLORIFY GOD IN COMMUNION


MONDAY, SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Jer 13:1-11; Deut 32:18-21; Mt 13:31-35

The Mustard Seed of the Kingdom of Heaven

Wisdom is God essentially. It is enshrined in the word of God, which expresses the knowledge and will of the Father. This is why we refer to Jesus Christ as the Eternal Wisdom. So, God did not imprint or enclose wisdom within rational creatures, for that would remove their freedom or make them equal to God. The exercise of free will is what allows rational creatures to be like God.  With a rational nature that makes them the image of God, they can know the created things and order. They can distinguish between creatures and the Creator and choose to remain in communion with their Creator. Our choice to remain with God is a choice to walk with wisdom. Since God created us to be in communion with him, the choice to follow the will of God when it is revealed to us is the proper exercise of the gift of free will that will bring us to be like God. When we fail to make this choice, we invariably make a choice for darkness and death, which would never bring us fulfilment. Because God made us for himself, without dwelling in communion with God, we will live hopelessly and without understanding the meaning of life. God is life; to live without God is death.

God demonstrated this intricate relationship between God and human persons to Prophet Jeremiah using a loincloth. The usefulness of the loincloth lies in its wrapping around the human waist. Our usefulness is in our communion with God, glorifying him. The fulfilment of this purpose preserves us from falling into darkness and death. When the loincloth that was supposed to be around the prophet was hidden away, it immediately decayed and became useless for anything. God revealed to Jeremiah that without communion with him, we would decay and become useless. “Thus says the Lord: In the same way I will spoil the arrogance of Judah and Jerusalem. These evil people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the dictates of their own hard hearts, who have followed alien gods, and served them and worshipped them, let them become like this loincloth, good for nothing.” It would seem here that God cursed the people of Jerusalem, but that is not the case; he rather let the consequence follow their action, according to his divine justice. He states his intention for communion with us. “For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I had intended the whole House of Judah to cling to me—it is the Lord who speaks—to be my people, my glory, my honour and my boast. But they have not listened.”

Our inability to pay attention or listen to the word of God is the source of all our sins and problems. It is only by listening to the word of God that we receive God within us through receiving his word. Undivided attention on the word of God we hear unleashes the power of the word in us for spiritual life and growth. This is what Jesus taught with a parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.” For the divine life to germinate within us, we must sow the word of God, which is the seed of the heavenly kingdom, for it contains the will of the Father. When we receive it within us, we must not allow anything to choke it; we must nurture it in secret. This means we push back the worries and cares of the world from keeping us away from attending to the word. We must let the light that it generates within us illuminate all aspects of our lives. This is when it becomes like a yeast, ever growing and branching, leavening every thought, desire, word, and action. Recall that we do this when we meditate on the mysteries of our Lord while praying the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the woman who took the word of God and mixed it with every aspect of her life, until she radiated with divine grace and glory, which supports us as her children. We pray for grace to imitate her wisdom.

Let us pray: O God, protector of those who hope in you, without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing is holy, bestow in abundance your mercy upon us and grant that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may use the good things that pass in such a way as to hold fast even now to those that ever endure. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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