Mathew 17:20 - He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Mark 4:30-32 - “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
Mark 4: 14-20 - “The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
A mustard seed is so small, looks so insignificant like a little grain of sand, that from its appearance you would never suspect a large plant with large branches could spring forth from it.
A host is also small, insignificant, and seems like nothing, yet, in the small insignificant piece of bread is contained God Almighty when consecrated. Because this Mystery is so great – Christ fully present- Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in a small insignificant Host— our human mind cannot grasp such a miracle of God without His grace. God constantly shows us His ways are not our ways.
Jesus has been calling us His “mustard seed” for years. This is not just a nice expression from our Lord, but it contains a great mystery for us, and also, it contains the manner in which we will come to be transformed into God’s living hosts. Therefore, we need to go deeper into its meaning to discover what the Heart of God is truly telling us and desiring from us.
Two keywords:
“The Lord wants to reveal his glory by taking up our nothingness and our insignificance and turning it into something majestic by the pure force of his love.” (Magnificat 11th Sunday in Ordinary Times 6/17/18)
The Path of the Cross brings us to know our NOTHINGNESS. When we live in our infected wounds believing the lies of Satan and living in disorder, we live a fake identity – someone we are not. Our fallen nature wants to be important, seen, heard, powerful and significant. Yet, the Path of the Cross brings us to discover the truth about ourselves and God—we are nothing and God is ALL; we are insignificant and God is Significant.
Spirit of Poverty, Simple Path p. 303, #110
We, Love Crucified, are God’s mustard seed – little, nothing, insignificant-- and in our nothingness is hidden the power of God. That is why God is constantly telling us that we are the “hidden force”. Just as the mustard seed contains the large tree and the Host contains God Almighty, the mustard seed of LC contains the Power of God, the “sword of the Spirit.”
The Lord told us:
The mustard seed is our community as a whole and also each member individually. In order for our mission and identity to be protected from the snares of Satan, we MUST become, more-and-more each day, God’s “insignificant vessels”.
This is why the work of our Path of dying to our old selves, the person who we have become that we are not, to become who we truly are – nothing and insignificant – is ESSENTIAL for every MOC and MC, for here lies the protection and fulfillment of God’s mission for the Church given to us—ushering in the reign of the Holy Spirit with the reign of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as one with the Eucharistic Reign.
God has willed for our LC Community to not be recognized officially by the Church as of yet. He has wanted us to remain hidden, insignificant, unnoticed, unwanted, misunderstood and small, for it is God’s way of forming us according to His perfect plan. He is making sure that we ARE THE MUSTARD SEED. Individually, He also forms us in the same way—in the hidden insignificant ordinary martyrdom of the heart. The more hidden, small, insignificant, unnoticed we are, the greater our power because it is the Power of God.
How is the mustard seed of LC sprouting, growing, strengthening, and producing fruit?
The large tree might never be seen in our own community. We might never be a large and visible community in the Church. The Lord, so far, has scattered one seed in some cities and a few in others. How God sows the seeds of LC is up to Him, but we MUST desire to ALWAYS be His insignificant little mustard seeds.
The hidden power of God contained in the mustard seed of the LC Community has been sown... It is sprouting, taking root, and producing fruit there. They might grow in strength and numbers, a visible army in the world, while we remain their “hidden force” as God’s hidden victim souls. We remain the seed that is underground, buried, and our visible growth is actually in others.
Are we each willing to be the mustard seed that remains hidden, underground, unseen, unperceived, yet, bringing forth large branches and producing an abundance of choice fruit in others?
Our Path forms us, and all the souls that receive the Simple Path, to become “Living Hosts”—One with Christ Eucharist. Our Beloved Jesus Christ remains hidden, unseen, unperceived by many in the smallness and insignificance of the Host, yet, the seed of the Eucharist enters our hearts. He continues to remain hidden within us, and if the soil of our hearts has been plowed and prepared, the seed of Christ Eucharist grows until it is no longer we that live but Christ who lives through us, with us, and in us! (Parable of the Sower, Mark 4: 14-20)
How are we nothing and insignificant, yet, we’re sons and daughters of Abba in Christ restored in God’s image and likeness possessing gifts of the Holy Spirit?
The problem is when we live our gifts and our vocations detached from the Vine, as if they’re our own. This is what our egos desire. This human tendency, that we all have, comes from our infected wounds and through our disordered attachments to want to be important, significant, applauded, affirmed, liked, accepted… IT’S ALL ABOUT ME. It also comes from a lack of TRUST and ABANDONMENT to Christ, truly believing with our entire being that God loves us and anything He permits in our lives, whether good or what we perceive as bad, is for a greater good.
Therefore, you can be a mother, father, priest, layperson living your vocation disconnected from the Vine. We do this many times subconsciously.
What are some signs that can alert us of this condition?
When we live knowing our NOTHINGNESS and INSIGNIFICANCE, ITS ALL ABOUT CHRIST. He is ALL, our Vine, everything comes to us through Him—we are capable of nothing without Him. Life is not about me anymore, it’s all about Him, and therefore, I live only to please Him—this is HOLINESS.
Simple Path p. 241, #86:
My Lord, how do I live solely for Love, forgetting myself? Live to please Me. To live in the unity of the Trinity is to live gazing at the Father, through the Son, to please Him in all things.