Friday, January 29, 2016

Focus on Sowing


The WORD today (See http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012916.cfm) reminds me that we should be focused on sowing seeds for God's kingdom and not on seeing the effects of our actions. 

It is normal for people to want to see the output of their efforts. I believe this is the reason why community building outreach activities are so popular. Institutions like “habitat for humanity” and “gawad kalinga” who give people the chance of seeing the immediate output of their actions are very supported. After working for a day, volunteers get to see the output – be it hollow blocks or other materials being moved from one place to another, a house being painted or walls buing built – these things give a sense of fulfillment or joy, knowing that the effort spent was not put to waste. However, it is not always like this when we are doing God’s work.

In the gospel, we see that the man would just sow the seeds, and he does not know how these seeds brow and bear fruit. He does not know what happens inside the soil, he just sows seeds. What happens to the seeds, inside the soil, and the fruits it will bear are all dependent on God - what God wants to happen according to his perfect plans. His power, not our efforts. His plans, not ours. 

We should be focused on sowing seeds for God's kingdom and not on seeing the effects of our actions. 

We may not always see the effects of our service to God. We may not always get good results. However, these things should not dishearten us and prevent us from doing God’s work, from planting seeds. 

God needs workers to plant seeds of faith. God needs our help to spread his word.

We do not need to see the effects of our actions. We do not need to know that the seeds bore fruit. We should not seek comfort and approval from the output of our work, because everything is dependent on God’s time and plan, not ours. We should just focus on God as we do his work, and have complete faith that our work for Him is not futile. We may not see the effects but it does not mean God is not pleased with us, that our actions were not effective.

May we continue to sow seeds of faith without the need to see the effects of our actions.


Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another reminder. Thank you for the opportunity to continue to sow seeds of faith to others around me. And sorry for the times I look for and focus on the results of my actions. Lord, guide me so I wont be too focused on the results, on the fruits of the seeds. Remind me that those seeds would bear fruit, not necessarily in my time, but definitely in your perfect time. May I just continue to sow seeds of faith and focus on you as I work for you, knowing in faith that my work for you will always bear fruit. Amen.

Blessed day!

In Christ,
-g-

Ps
See related reflections:


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January 29, 2016
Friday of the Third Week of Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 321



Reading 1 2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17


At the turn of the year, when kings go out on campaign,
David sent out Joab along with his officers
and the army of Israel,
and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.
David, however, remained in Jerusalem.
One evening David rose from his siesta
and strolled about on the roof of the palace.
From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful.
David had inquiries made about the woman and was told,
“She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam,
and wife of Joab’s armor bearer Uriah the Hittite.”
Then David sent messengers and took her.
When she came to him, he had relations with her.
She then returned to her house.
But the woman had conceived,
and sent the information to David, “I am with child.”

David therefore sent a message to Joab,
“Send me Uriah the Hittite.”
So Joab sent Uriah to David.
When he came, David questioned him about Joab, the soldiers,
and how the war was going, and Uriah answered that all was well.
David then said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.”
Uriah left the palace,
and a portion was sent out after him from the king’s table.
But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace
with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down
to his own house.
David was told that Uriah had not gone home.
On the day following, David summoned him,
and he ate and drank with David, who made him drunk.
But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his bed
among his lord’s servants, and did not go down to his home.
The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab
which he sent by Uriah.
In it he directed:
“Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce.
Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead.”
So while Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah
to a place where he knew the defenders were strong.
When the men of the city made a sortie against Joab,
some officers of David’s army fell,
and among them Uriah the Hittite died.



Responsorial Psalm PS 51:3-4, 5-6a, 6bcd-7, 10-11


R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
I have done such evil in your sight
that you are just in your sentence,
blameless when you condemn.
True, I was born guilty,
a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness;
the bones you have crushed shall rejoice.
Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my guilt.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.



Alleluia See Mt 11:25


R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
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 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.

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