Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s first reading from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians we read:
Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
We have recently commemorated the Ascension of Jesus, but soon after the church celebrates the feast of Pentecost, followed by Trinity Sunday, the affirmation of the Triune God working in the world. The temptation many may find in some religious talk and writing is to place an emphasis on the “final days.” In doing so, we neglect the real obligation found in both today’s first reading and Our Father. In today’s first reading we hear that salvation is offered to us today. In the Our Father we pray that the Kingdom of be on earth as it is in heaven. Such readings do not diminish the importance of the end times, but they do remind us of that union with God and the consequences of that union should not be put on hold for the distant future. Keeping in mind the important image of the mustard seed and the grain of wheat used by Christ to explain how the Kingdom of God breaks into our hearts and our society, we should be on the lookout for those seeds of the kingdom that God presents to us and provide them an opportunity to grow within our hearts.