S/He Knows Not How!

Friday, January 31, 2025

Heb 10: 32-39; Mk 4:26-34

Today’s Gospel highlights the miraculous way in which the Divine Providence upholds us.

To explain the working of God in our lives, Jesus gives us two parables. 

The parable of the seed underscores the invisible and gradual nature of God’s work, which, at one point, becomes so tangible and conspicuous. Except for making sure that the external conditions are conducive to the growth of the seed, the sower does nothing much to aid the internal growth of the seed, because of which it bears fruit. Here, Jesus underlines the providential care of God and the sower’s dependence on God’s abundant generosity. Our life is a simple example of the fact that we are at the receiving end, while God’s providence ensures our survival and flourishing. Jesus helps us understand that gratitude is the fitting way by which we can praise God for all the gratuitous blessings. 

The parable of the mustard seed offers another example to reflect on the Divine Providence. In its transformation from the tiniest seed to being the greatest tree in which birds of the sky find their dwelling, the greatness of the mustard seed owes everything to God. Often when we forget the hand of God in our lives, we grow more egotistic and vainglorious about our accomplishments. Here, we need to be clear that acknowledging the hand of God is not to brush aside our hard work to be where we are today. However, just as we cannot make sense of the internal process by which a seed grows to bear fruit or a mustard seed blossoms into a big tree, we cannot often comprehend the invisible Divine Hand that keeps us where we are today. 

In sum, Jesus invites us to recognize God’s handiwork that enables our movement from nothingness to greatness. In this sense, our growth or accomplishment in life calls for greater humility toward God. 

Let us pray that we may recognize and be grateful forever for the work of God in our lives.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar