Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), June 14, 2015 – Ez 17, 22-24; 2 Cor 5, 6-10; Mk 4, 26-34

We are always confident (2 Cor 5, 6)

Jesus wants his little flock to trust always in the Lord.

We humans are easily impressed by outward appearance: lofty stature, imposing looks, lavish clothing, magnificent palaces or sanctuaries, enviable seats, important positions. They seem reliable to us.

God, however, sees more than meets the eyes. He entrusts tasks to those who are insignificant in the eyes of human beings. He lifts up the lowly and humbles the great, letting the unbearable crumble under their own weight.

By behaving so, God gives reason to the disadvantaged to proclaim him great and powerful and to praise him for his mercy and generosity. Not only does he affirm that his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways; he likewise makes known that divine perfection is fully revealed in human imperfection.

We who are imperfect can never boast before the Lord. But yes, we can boast in him, basically for the dignity he has conferred on us by creating us, male and female, in his image and by adopting us besides as sons and daughters.

This dignity is given to us by God and he alone can take it away. It is not ours because of our abundance of goods, spiritual or material. Otherwise, Jesus would not proclaim the beatitudes, nor would he eat with tax collectors and sinners, nor would he cure the sick.

What counts, then, is God’s grace, not our merits. He looks with favor on our lowliness and wants us to bear truly his image and inscription, and cry out confidently, “Abba, Father!” And if indeed we acknowledge that everything is due to divine mercy, and not to human effort that, according to St. Vincent de Paul, cannot do anything except spoil everything (SV.FR XI:343), then we will always trust in the Lord and will persevere in prayer.

Our trust and our perseverance will prompt us to see to it that our conduct lead others to invoke the name of our heavenly Father, that we sow acts of justice and mercy, though small, that will be part of the great and welcoming Kingdom, and that, with our fidelity, we do God’s will on earth and thus have a foretaste here of heaven. By sharing our bread with the needy, forgiving one another, helping others overcome obstacles and be delivered from evil, we will reflect God and we will be true brothers and sisters of the one who offers his flesh as food and his blood as drink.

Lord, we trust in you. May the little we contribute be part of the unstoppable realization of your kingdom.

Ross Reyes Dizon

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