The Mustard Seed

   Nothing was smaller or more humble in its beginnings than "the kingdom of heaven," the Church: Jesus, its Head and Founder, was born in a stable; he worked for the greater part of thirty years in a carpenter's shop, and for only three years unfolded his mission to a poor people, preaching a doctrine so simple that all, even the unlettered, could understand.  When Jesus left the earth, the Church was established by an insignificant group of twelve men, gathered about a humble woman, Mary: but this first nucleus possessed so powerful a vitality that in a few years it spread into all the countries of the vast Roman Empire.  The Church, from a very tiny seed, sown in the hearts of a Virgin Mother and of poor fishermen, became little by little through the centuries a gigantic tree, extending its branches into all regions of the globe, with peoples of every tongue and nation taking shelter in its shade. (Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.)

   The above meditation can be found in the October 2009 issue of The Magnificat.  It fits in very well with the theme of this blog: the humble beginnings of the Church and God using the small and humble to confound the mighty of this world; "so that no flesh may glory in God's sight" (the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians).  We're starting with the very tiny yet powerfully compact core of the Church, which in a relatively short time expanded to become present in all the known world.