17 June 2018 - eyes on the prize

Today's Readings (Audio)

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Faith is a gift from God that enables us to thrive even when "we are away from the Lord" because we are still "at home in the body". It enables us to have a foretaste of the results even while the process is still ongoing.

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.

Even while the mustard seed is small we can have confidence by faith in what it is becoming.

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.

It is important to have this perspective that only faith can provide. Without it our efforts will seem futile. From a purely human point of view we will appear to be wasting our time. Growth in ourselves and progress in the world will be invisible. It will be hard not to give up. But if we look with the eyes of faith we can appreciate how the little things really matter to the Kingdom of God. If we are pursuing the Kingdom in faith we can see that our efforts are essential and have a firm hope that we will bear fruit.

And all the trees of the field shall know
that I, the LORD,
bring low the high tree,
lift high the lowly tree,
wither up the green tree,
and make the withered tree bloom.
As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.

Faith means trusting in the supernatural aid that makes all our efforts bear fruit in spite of our weaknesses and failures.

We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures, we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son Jesus (Saint John Paul the Great).

It doesn't matter how small we are. Nor does it matter how hard to see our progress is. With eyes of faith we see the goal and the prize even now.

The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,
like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.
They that are planted in the house of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts of our God.