Dear Family of God,

God is in charge so “walk by faith and not by sight” (2Cor. 5:7).

If we have faith, we can be “full of confidence” like Saint Paul. We know that the Lord is with us, guiding us, working out all things for good, and drawing us into the fullness of life (cf. Rm. 8:28). We will experience a lot of obstacles and we cannot see yet our true final destination.

How do we remain “full of confidence” amidst trials in this life? By putting our trust in the Lord and not in ourselves, we can walk by faith and not by sight. But when we forget that God is in charge and decide we want to be in control, we grow anxious or afraid because now everything depends on us rather than on God.

To avoid this tendency, Jesus gives us two parables in our Gospel today. The first parable speaks about how a seed has an inner dynamism to grow by itself without further intervention of the Farmer. This teaches us that the Kingdom of God has its own power for growth. It does not depend on our knowledge or skills. Like farmers, we do our part — sowing where and when the Lord directs us to sow, but all the rest we entrust to the Lord, for the kingdom grows without us knowing how.

Our part may seem very small and insignificant, and we may even think it is worthless, but when guided by God’s hand the results will be great in His Kingdom. The farmer knows that planting a small seed will make a great difference in the long run. A Father’s love coupled with a mother’s love may seem small things for the world, but for a child’s world, it makes a great difference to have both his father and mother.

The second parable helps us to recognize the importance of small things when they are put at the service of God. Jesus uses an image of a tiny mustard seed to teach us about the Kingdom. God’s ways are not our ways! He prefers to use little, insignificant instruments like us to carry out His plan. Also, we tend to think God should work instantaneously, but He usually works gradually, bringing about great things over the course of time, and at the same time doing a great work of transformation in all who participate in the process.

May we all do our part and see the growth of God’s Kingdom in our world, as the saying goes, “do your best and God will do the rest.” Happy Father’s Day!

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