My mother and I used to rent a room from the family which she worked for as a nanny. One day, we were having dinner together. The husband started telling me that the reason the Catholic Church in America was not growing as fast as other denominations was because we did not have missionaries, who would go door to door and preach. “All we ever do was to have priests standing on the pulpit talking in Church. What’s the point?” the man said.
Having the tendency of not wanting to waste my breath with those who think they know everything, I just smiled while thinking to myself, “you completely missed the point.”
It is indeed very important to have missionaries who go out and preach. After all, that was how St. Paul carried the Gospel message to all of us, the Gentiles. The Church was also blessed with so many other great preachers such as Francis Xavier who preached the Good News in Asia, or St. Isaac Jogues and his courageous companions who came to evangelize in America, and many more.
These missionaries were called to an important task and at times endure incredible persecutions in trying to carry it out. However, then and now, countless men and women have stepped up to answer this call despite it all. Paul was beheaded. Isaac Jogues and his friends were martyred. Many others were ridiculed, shunned, and ignored.
Most of us will not be called to undertake such an ardent task. But, all of us are called to preach the Gospel at all times – often not by words, but by the way we live our life and the way we conduct our deeds, not matter how insignificant they are.
Jesus, in today’s Gospel, speaks of the Kingdom of heaven as a mustard seed – the smallest of all seeds, and as a small clump of yeast mixed with flour. The small mustard seed becomes a great tree. A small clump of yeast leavens the whole batch of wheat flour.
The same can be said of how we are to be witnesses to the Kingdom of God.
God uses each of us, however insignificant we are, to carry out his message to the whole world. Each of us, by the way we live, reflects the Gospel we have come to possess. Our kindness and love for neighbors, though at time seem as small as a mustard seed, will eventually grow and expand. It is the paradox of the Gospel.
There was a beautiful movie called Pay It Forward which I really liked. A boy named Trevor began his little project of a charitable pyramid scheme. He began with doing charitable deeds for three people. These three people, in turn, “pay it forward” by doing kind deeds to some others. The project began to spread so widely, and little Trevor never realized how many people’s lives it helped change.
I believe we are called to do the same. We need not to stand in the corner of the street, screaming on the top of our lungs trying to force the Gospel down people’s throats (which I doubt would be effective). Our way of evangelizing today should be by showing God’s compassion to our world – a world which is desperately in need of love.
Each of us is capable of doing this for we can never underestimate the power of the small and the insignificant. We can never underestimate the power of one because,
One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake the dream.
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal.
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room.
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey,
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what’s true,
One life can make the difference,
You see, it’s up to you!
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