“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”
The kingdom of God is like a small seed that grew and became a large tree.
“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Ephesians 5:21-33

 Let all kinds of submission to one another

Become obedience to Christ. So wives to their husbands: as to the Lord.

 The husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, of whom he is also the Savior.  And as the Church submits to Christ, so let a wife submit in everything to her husband.

As for you, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. He washed her and made her holy by baptism in the Word.  As he wanted a radiant Church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless, he himself had to prepare and present her to himself.

In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves him­self.  And no one has ever hated his body; he feeds and takes care of it. That is just what Christ does for the Church,  because we are members of his body.

Scripture says: Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother to be united with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a very great mystery, and I refer to Christ and the Church.  As for you, let each one love his wife as himself, and let the wife respect her husband.

 

Ps 128 1-2, 3, 4-5

Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Luke 13:18-21

 Jesus continued speaking, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to?   Imagine a person who has taken a mustard seed and planted it in the garden. The seed has grown and become like a small tree, so that the birds of the air shelter in its branches.”

And Jesus said again, “What is the kingdom of God like? Imagine a woman who has taken yeast and hidden it in three measures of flour until it is all leavened.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

God of Small Things

It is natural human inclination to imagine God as the biggest, the grandest, and the most spectacular. Imagining God to be so somehow makes us compensate for our smallness and creatureliness.

And because of such imagination, we miss God when he appears before us in forms least expected. We look up to God; but as a wise guru observed, “people miss seeing God because they are too unwilling to look down;” and look around, perhaps.

God and His kingdom often follow the dynamics of the mustard seed and the yeast in today’s gospel parables: small, subtle, almost invisible; but they keep transforming the world around.

By the same logic, to be part of this kingdom, we do not have to do spectacular things; it is enough to do small things with great love: Like a husband and a wife respecting and caring for each other and doing the little things to make everyone’s life a bit easier and happier.