SMALL SEEDS
We are drowning in bad news. Radio and television programs, news and reports spew out an avalanche of hate, wars, hunger and violence, scandals large and small. The «sellers of sensationalism» don’t seem to find anything else worth reporting on our planet.
The incredible speed with which this news gets spread leaves us bewildered and confused. What can we do in the face of such suffering? Each day we get better informed of the evil that ravages all humanity, and each day we feel more powerless to deal with it.
Science has tried to convince us that these problems can be resolved with more technology, and aims us all to an all-encompassing organization and rationalization of life. But this organized power isn’t at this point in the hands of people but in the structures. It has become an «invisible power» that lies beyond the reach of each individual.
Thus the temptation to hold ourselves back is great. What could I do to better this society? Isn’t it the political and religious leaders who have to promote the changes that are needed to advance towards a more dignified, humane and happy coexistence?
No it isn’t. In the Gospel there is an invitation directed to all of us, to sow small seeds of a new humanity. Jesus doesn’t talk of great things. God’s reign is something very humble and modest in its origin. Something that could be overlooked like the smallest seed, but something that is called to grow and bear fruit in unsuspected ways.
Maybe we need to learn again to value small things and small acts. We don’t feel ourselves called to be heroes or martyrs every day, but we are all invited to live so as to put a little dignity in each corner of our small world. A friendly gesture to someone who is confused, a welcoming smile to someone who is alone, a sign of being close to someone who is growing hopeless, a ray of small hope in a downcast heart… these aren’t big things. They are small seeds of God’s reign that all of us can sow in a complicated and sad society, one that has forgotten the delight of simple and good things.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
