by Rev. Fr. Julius C. Lupot

READINGS:     Ezekiel 17: 22-24   /   Psalm 92: 2-3. 13-16   /   2 Corinthians 5: 6-10   /    MARK 4: 26-34

HIS WORD… THE KINGDOM OF GOD… 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.

my words… After all the solemnities and major liturgical celebrations of our Mother Church since the Holy Week celebrations, we are now back to the green season in the Sunday Liturgy of the Church. Since we are in the Cycle B Sunday Readings, we now contemplate and meditate on the gospel of Mark.

JESUS CHRIST is the seed of Christianity. This is how the parable of the Mustard Seed described Jesus as the root of the religion of Christianity. And He was sown or planted by God the Father more than 2,000 years ago, and is now full-blown as one of the major religions in the whole wide world (www.com). Who or what was insignificant among the Jewish people during His time is now the largest of all plants or religions in the world.

In the Philippine soil, the same seed was sown and planted in 1521 by early Spanish missionaries led by Ferdinand Magellan; and that seed of Christianity that they planted is now full-blown in the Philippine Islands as we are nearing to the celebration of the Great Jubilee 2021 marking the 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Sr. Sto. Nino de Cebu marker of Christianity in the Philippines which initially enthroned in a small nipa hut chapel in 1565 by the group of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi now stands as a Basilica Minore de Sto Nino de Cebu. It looks like a miracle; but that is the magic of the smallest seed that has grown into the largest of trees that puts forth large branches…

Brothers and Sisters, we are now members of the Kingdom of God that Jesus founded in this world. By our baptisms, we become children of God and heirs of the Kingdom. But this Kingdom is already among us; the realized Kingdom of God in Jesus of Nazareth who dwelt among us and remains with us now until the end of time. Our role therefore is to continue extending the branches of the tree of Christianity in our day to day life and missions. To be Christian missionaries have a special resonance for us Filipinos; for it was Pope John Paul II, now St. John Paul II who called and attributed the Filipino people as “the foremost missionaries in Asia.”

2021 in the Great Jubilee celebration is “Missio Ad Gentes” for the Philippine Church; meaning, we continue proclaiming the seed of Christianity to the other nations as well for the seed of Christianity planted in our islands has grown largely and is now bearing fruit enough to be shared to the other corners of the world. Indeed the mustard seed of Christianity has become the largest of plants that now the branches become ripe to extend them to the other birds of the sky in the whole universe!

LET THE SEED OF OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH GROW LARGELY IN LOVE FOR THE WHOLE WORLD…