Small seeds

We are drowning in bad news. Radio and television stations, broadcasts and reports unload on us an avalanche of news about hate, wars, hunger and violence, scandals large and small. The “peddlers of sensationalism” do not seem to find anything more worthwhile in our planet.

The unbelievable speed with which news gets spread leaves us stunned and disconcerted. What can one do in the face of so much suffering? We are, each time, better informed about the evil that ravages all humanity, and each time we feel more powerless to deal with it.

Science has wanted to convince us that problems can be resolved with more technological power, and has hurled us into organizing life in a gigantic scale and giving it rational explanation. But this organized power is no longer in the hands of people but in the structures. It has become an “invisible power” that lies beyond the reach of every individual.

Thus the temptation to hold ourselves back is great. What could I do to better this society? Are not the political and religious leaders the ones to promote the changes that are needed to advance towards a more dignified and happy coexistence worthy of human beings?

It is not so. There is in the Gospel an invitation, addressed to all, to sow small seeds of a new humanity. Jesus does not speak of big things. God’s kingdom is something very humble and modest in its origin. It is something that could be overlooked like the smallest seed, yet it is called to grow and bear fruit in unsuspected ways.

Perhaps we need to learn again to value small things and small gestures. We do not feel called to be heroes or martyrs every day, but we are all invited to live in such a way that we put a little dignity in every corner of our small world. A friendly gesture to someone who goes through life disconcerted, a welcoming smile to someone who is alone, an sign of closeness to someone who is beginning to despair, a ray of small joy in a very worried heart. These are not big things. They are small seeds of God’s kingdom that we can all sow in a complicated and sad society that has forgotten the delight of simple and good things.

June 14, 2015
11 Ordinary Time (B)
Mark 4, 26-34