＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Romans 8:18-25

I consider that the suffering of our present life

Cannot be compared with the Glory that will be revealed and given to us. All creation is eagerly expecting the birth in glory of the children of God. For if now the created world was unable to attain its purpose, this did not come from itself, but from the one who subjected it. But it is not without hope; for even the created world will be freed from this fate of death and share the freedom and glory of the children of God.

 We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pangs of birth. Not creation alone, but even ourselves, although the Spirit was given to us as a foretaste of what we are to receive, we groan in our innermost being, eagerly awaiting the day when God will give us full rights and rescue our bodies as well.

 In hope we already have salvation. But if we saw what we hoped for, there would no longer be hope: how can you hope for what is already seen? So we hope for what we do not see and we will receive it through patient hope.

 

Ps 126:1b-1ab, 2cd-3, 4-5,6

The Lord has done marvels for us.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

Luke 13:18-21

 And Jesus continued,”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：

If we expect the kingdom of God to come dazzling us with its spectacle or extravaganza, we will be disappointed. God does not work that way. Rather God takes small steps and allows something spectacular to unfold through time.

Take for example the gospel today. Jesus uses small things to explain how God works in us. God continually sustains us with small dosages of divine teachings to change and make us productive and fruitful.

God does not overwhelm us with too much fanfare in the beginning only to attract us into God’s kingdom and then fizzle out. God works patiently with small things.

For that which grows In time endures. While most of those that comes to overwhelm instantly cannot sustain itself. It fizzles in the end. And so, let us be patient with the small things for certainly, God does not despise them. It is In their smallness that God is glorified in the end when it becomes something wonderful afterwards.