January 23, 2024

View from the Faith Office

A Reflection for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

View From the Faith Office

The Mustard Seed and the Rose

 

God of mercy and compassion, slow to anger, O Lord, abounding in love and truth. (Psalm 85)

The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. (Romans 8.26)

The last verse of the beautiful song, ‘The Rose’, written by Amanda McBroom in 1979 and made famous when sung by Bette Midler for the movie of the same name, seems particularly appropriate for our times, especially in the middle of a particularly cold Kilmore Winter:

“When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes the rose.”

We are faced with so many present difficulties and challenges, and just doing the next thing on our ‘to do’ list takes all our effort and attention. Meanwhile, the daily news, with its updated numbers of positive Coronavirus cases, weighs heavily on us. How can we plan for the future when we don’t even know what is happening today, let alone tomorrow? It could be so easy to give in to despair,and be overcome. But the song reminds us not to lose hope. That despite today’s loneliness, the dark and the cold, the sun will shine again.

This week’s Gospel reading tells a similar story:

‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a woman took and sowed in her field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’

What we do today plants a seed of ‘faith’.

The decision to keep going with courage, generosity and good humour waters this seed with ‘hope’.

With confidence, we look forward to, in the spring, all our efforts flowering with ‘love’.

 

Loving Father
May the love of your son,Jesus
Keep us warm in the depth of this winter
Protecting us from the cold and dark.
May our hearts not fear breaking,
That we may, with good humour,
Learn to dance

May our dreams not fear waking,
That we may, with courage,
Take a chance.

May we not fear acts of selflessness,
That we may, with generosity, always
Give
May we never fear what others may think of us,
That we may, with compassion and love, learn to
Live
 
And when the night has been lonely
And the road has been long
And we feel that we are neither
Lucky or Strong.
Help us to, with faith and hope,
Look to the Spring
Where,with your Son’s love,
All our small and hidden acts of
Kindness and service
May come to flower in a kaleidoscope of
Colour and life.
 
Amen

 

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