Back to the TEAM!

It’s been a minute since I last posted on our prayer team meetings. There have been meetings but some of them have been skipped due to travel and many family events and other happenings for all the team members.

Although I cannot adequately transmit in words what the Holy Spirit is doing among us during our prayer time, I just want to continue to try to share it because it is powerful and hope-filled. From dusty seedlings to chaotic kids, here we go.

Reflection on Sunday’s Gospel

Gospel for the Sunday June 16, 2024, 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Seed Grows of Itself. ²⁶ He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God;^[a] it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land ²⁷ and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. ²⁸ Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

The Mustard Seed. ³⁰ He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. ^32 [b]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.” ³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. ³⁴ Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

Reflections for (last) Sunday’s gospel from the team: (Just a reminder these are reflections of the group, not my reflections alone.) We begin with a line that jumps out at us and reflect on it’s meaning for us at this time.

• “the seed grows, he knows not how” and the smallest seed=largest of plants: We don’t know God’s ways and cannot understand what all He is doing and how He does it. The smaller we are, the more humility in knowing it is HE who does all things in us, and then the bigger our plant/yield will be in life. Can I trust Jesus and let myself be small so he can be ALL?
• It doesn’t matter how small we are or how small our attempts to love and do well may be or not be, God is big and can do so much with our efforts. Do I make the common mistake of relying too much on my own efforts?
• The parables help us so much. Everyone loves a good story and examples. Jesus loved the crowds and took pity on them, using stories to help them understand. Do I consider that Jesus loves me and will help me to understand what he needs of me?
• From dust...(TLK holds up a plastic bag she received in catechesis training a week or two ago…)It has something that looks like particles of dust in it. She tells us these are mustard seeds that were given out to show everyone just how small they actually are. We notice that they are even smaller than sand or sugar grains. How can a big tree come from these dusty particles? I think of mustard seed spice and realize that these are probably the “grains” the mustard seed has grown! This makes God seem even mightier. How often do I feel insufficient in doing what I should be doing? Do I realize God is making room in me to do His wonders and wants me to know it is HE that is working in my life?
• A seed has all it needs inside of it. God places everything in His creation that it will need when He creates it. Let us consider what He has placed in us when He created us. Our dependence on Him is what causes the birth and growth and “unfurling” of all that we need that He has already placed in us. All I have to do is stay close to Him and he will provide the rain and sun. Do I trust God is providing for me, especially when I feel lacking?
• When gardening…watching the tiny seed go in to the ground and then watching it unfurl with the leaves/blade/ear, reminds me as a gardener of how patient our God is! When scattering wildflower seeds, a gardener considers the best soil and conditions for that seed to grow and bloom. God is the great Gardener who does this for each of us, His creation. How is the soil of my soul?
• he wields the sickle at once: Once when trying to grow berry bushes years ago, I watched the bushes so carefully and couldn’t wait to pick the berries and harvest the fruit. One day I said “These will be perfect tomorrow! I will pick them in the morning.” The next day, the birds had come and had eaten all the berries. They were completely gone! Am I prepared for the “great harvest” in my life? I have a responsibility to be “ripe” for the picking at any time.

Joy Unwanted

Our case study (an example of where we have witnessed God at work lately) was about a woman who just needed some peace and went to church early before the Holy Mass so she could be in silence with the Lord. When she arrived at church however, there were 300 noisy vacation bible school students, leaders and adults! The kids were being corralled, gathered, and grouped and they were ready for VBS to begin.

The woman who was reluctant to continue into the church felt as if all of this “joyful noise” was not what she needed right now. She was thirsting for was silence and quiet. Before she could leave, however, some of the regular mass attendees ushered her into the church and encouraged her to “come on in” for mass.

As she sat in her pew wishing for silence, she was over-taken by the joy of the kids and their happy laughter and noise. She realized quickly that God was delighting in them and all of their excitement to spend a some time with Him this week. She couldn’t maintain her disappointment in the noise for long because seeing their joy took her over, transforming her heart.

Just when she had surrendered her quest for silence, the noise completely stopped. Although the kids and leaders remained in the church, there was a hush so great in preparation for the Holy Mass to begin, that her long-awaited silence came rushing in. She realized that God gave her what she needed, and then what she wanted.

The Virtues We See and How We Will Imitate Them

The virtues we recognize in this scenario are Temperance, Fortitude and Docility to the Holy Spirit. The woman could have gone home and given up on quiet time, but stayed and waited on the Lord. She measured out the better part by staying for prayer, whatever that might look like for her.

How often are we distracted by others when we are trying to pray in church and perhaps missing the whole point that the “distraction” may be perhaps a directive to pray for that person? We can think we are being reverent to the Lord, but if it is at the expense of charity for our brothers and sisters, we have missed the point.

Resolutions to practice the virtues of Temperance, Fortitude and Docility to the Holy Spirit

How we will pray: When someone “gets in the way” or distracts me from doing what I think I should be doing, I will stop and realize that God is putting them in my path for a reason and I will offer a prayer for that person.

How we will act: Be on the watch this week for ways the Holy Spirit is moving in my heart and respond to it quickly and with docility, especially toward another person.