I left a promising and lucrative career in the corporate world for a career of greater purpose. While I know that being in my old company is where I was at my happiest, I also know it was no longer for me.

       So I braved new heights and found a job where I was given tasks that do not necessarily fall under my strengths. I felt discouraged with the many rejections I received from clients. I got even more disheartened when I felt like I couldn’t give any valuable report on my targets to my new boss.

       The disciples may have felt the same way about the Kingdom of God as they had very little understanding on what it was all about. But Jesus promised its fulfillment as He spoke in His parables. The Kingdom of God may begin as something small, but it is bound for greatness.

       After a few months in my new work, I witnessed victories I never knew I was capable of achieving. Deals were successfully closed, targets were met, and the first project I was part of was a huge success. What was this project? It was the Kerygma Conference 2014. Ruby Albino (r_jean07@yahoo.com)

Reflection:Do you feel like giving up? Are your pains overweighing your victories? Close your eyes. Allow God to fill you with a vision of His Kingdom. Do you see it? Good. Now own it with all your heart.

Lord, if I feel discouraged, help me overcome my trials with Your promise of unimaginable blessings.

St. Antonio de Sant’Anna Galvao, pray for us.

Paul presents a vision of the relationship between husband and wife. Marriages are important relationships. The couple works out the dynamics of their relationship. They have to accept each other’s quirks and foibles.

21 Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church, he himself the savior of the Body. 24 As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, 27 that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, 30 because we are members of his Body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church. 33 In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.

R: Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

1 Blessed are you who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways! 2 For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; blessed shall you be, and favored. (R) 3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your children like olive plants around your table. (R) 4 Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord. 5 The Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. (R)

We will never know what our faith can make us do. Maybe we will become one of the great healers of our time. Or a great preacher or someone well-known for his love and ministry to the poor. We cannot know where the Spirit of God will take us. This is why the parables are important — they point to something insignificant that grows and becomes the heart of the matter. Our faith makes us giants in the Kingdom of heaven, giants of love and mercy, giants of the Lord’s grace.

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

18 Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.” 20 Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

think: Our faith makes us giants in the Kingdom of heaven, giants of love and mercy, giants of the Lord’s grace.

Thank You Lord for: __________________

A RESTING PLACE

In one of my visits to a papaya farm, I learned that some of these fruit-bearing trees do not bear fruits at all. Because of this, the trees were regarded as the male species and those that bore fruits were of the female species.

       Fertility is generally associated to women in our culture and one can even say that without women, continuity of life is impossible. The continuity of a generation, the stages of growth and the necessity of survival is almost synonymous to what women are good at.

     The Church is always addressed as a woman. We call it our Holy Mother Church. In the same vein that we consider a woman, we speak of generation, growth and fruition of faith with the Church.

       Understanding the role of women vis-à-vis the role of the Church in our life would help us understand how the Church helps a faithful’s quest to enter the gates of heaven, the Kingdom of God. But what is the kingdom of God like? Jesus said, “It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched on its branches. It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

        The Kingdom of God is a resting place that nurtures and sustains life. It is not only open to the chosen few but to all who seek refuge. It is everyone’s resting place.

       In our community, children who have problems usually seek help from their mothers. Mothers provide comfort and affection that beleaguered children  need.

       That is why St. Paul reminds husbands to love their wives as they love themselves. The reminder also goes to the wives — to respect their husbands for he is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church.

       The Kingdom of God is found in our hearts. It is the love we share with one another, which finds its full expression in the existence of the Holy Mother Church that Christ Himself established. Fr. Sonny Cotiamco

REFLECTION QUESTION: How can you be a “resting place” to people who have problems?

Dearest God, just as You give me comfort and consolation when I need it, may I share the same to others who have problems today.