July 31, 2017
Monday, 17th Week
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Ex 32:15-24. 30-34
Gospel: Mt 13:31–35
Jesus put another parable before the people, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, that a man took and sowed in his field. “It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it has fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches.”
He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took and buried in three measures of flour until the whole mass of dough began to rise.”
Jesus taught all this to the crowds by means of parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So what the Prophet had said was fulfilled: I will speak in parables. I will proclaim things kept secret since the beginning of the world.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Jesus insists that much as one mustard seed can already bring up a big tree despite its insignificant size, so small and insignificant things can make God’s kingdom flourish. The kingdom in the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar shows to us what God’s kingdom is not (Daniel 4:7ff). In his dream the King saw a tree of great height with its top touching the heavens and its leaves beautiful and its fruits abundant. The king narrated to Daniel: “Under it the wild beasts found shade, in its branches the birds of the air nested; all men ate of it.” But there was a sentinel from heaven who announced that the tree would be cut down. In Daniel’s interpretation, the tree was the king himself who was about to be banished because he did not recognize God.
Unlike Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom that became too dependent upon human power and banked so much upon the strength of one man, God’s kingdom is founded on the humble and the meek. God loves the small. It is not by accident that God made human beings physically small, even smaller than carabaos, giraffes, elephants and dinosaurs. Human beings are never meant to be powerful and great but humble and blest. In being humble one brings his humanity to perfection and lives his life to the full. Such is the ideal foundation of God’s kingdom, not the likes of the power-hungry Nebuchadnezzar.
If we want to be part of the unfolding of God’s kingdom, we must be ready to lose for that is the surest way to gain; to surrender for that is the best way to win; to die for that is the only way to live; to give for that is the most noble way to receive; to serve for that is the perfect way to reign; to scatter for that is the most effective way to reap. Because God’s small ways bring forth great things, by being small we allow God to do marvels in our lives. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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