I think it is rather timely that as we celebrate Independence Day weekend we have as our Gospel two images of the Kingdom of God. One talks about the man sowing the seed, which at its own rhythm and hour, “would sprout and grow” and “of its own accord the land yields fruit.” The other is the more famous mustard seed image of the Kingdom of God.
Let us reflect on these two images of the Kingdom and the qualities of such a Kingdom with the task of nation-building as our context.
We often hear the phrase “we need to plant the seeds” whenever someone talks about the future, more specifically, leaving a legacy for future generations.
This all sounds neat and inspiring, but confronted with the complexity and the enormity of the problems that beset our nation, namely, widespread and institutional corruption, where does one begin?
This is where the second image of the Kingdom, the mustard seed, comes into play. Margaret Mead writes: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Working for the Kingdom
This is a challenge for all of us. As we celebrate the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time on this weekend of the 117th anniversary of Philippine Independence, God gives us this “food for thought.” He reissues his invitation to work for the Kingdom and gives fair warning to the high and mighty that his Kingdom is in our midst and will come to fulfillment despite all signs to the contrary.
We can begin by remembering where we stopped; return to the vision that inspired our forefathers, and return to their story which was the beginning of our story as a people.
With your kind indulgence, I quote from O.D. Corpuz’ “Roots of the Filipino Nation.”
“The story of the (1898) revolution is in the account of the evocation of love for the motherland: the idealism of the Ilustrados in Europe and the patriotism of the Filipinos who stayed home; the unity of the Katipunan fighting men and their leaderships who, in their words, ‘placed their lives in danger a thousand times’ in order that the Filipinos ‘should be the ones to govern the sons of this land.’ A more heroic age has not been seen in our history, for this surely was the watershed of Filipino nationalism.
“The Roots is above all a Filipino story. I hope it will not be exceedingly strange that our people, who are relegated to anonymity in the histories, are accorded honor of place and identified by name in this story.”
God-with-us
We end with the third quality of the Kingdom in today’s Gospel, the last sentence of the Gospel: “With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand them.” As Christ did, so must we—a God-with-us.
It is this God-with-us whom our people need to hope again, to dream again and to believe that it is in their choice, made out of freedom, that the fulfillment of their dream can possibly start.
We can do this—one person at a time, one family at a time, one community at a time; nation-building begins with our faith that we can do this.
We end with this prayer:
Send us, O God, your spirit to inspire us to make our hearts burn within us and to work each day that we may elect leaders after your own heart and spirit; leaders who will inspire our people to hope and believe again that kung walang corrupt walang mahirap; leaders who will inspire all of us to work; leaders who will work with us to fight corruption and overcome poverty.
Let our vote be a stand against corrupt officials and, more important, be a vote for our people who deserve more than dole-outs because it is the right of all Filipinos to have access to decent housing, quality basic healthcare and basic education, opportunities for decent jobs or livelihood, and guaranteed food security.
Send us, O Lord, your spirit to inspire us that we may be channels of your grace to renew—with the fire of your love—the face of our Philippine society in the coming 2016 elections. Amen.