From small to big

USING parables, Christ clearly shows us how the big things

in life, which can go all the way to include the Kingdom of heaven,

are achieved through the small things. His parables of the mustard

seed and the yeast (Mt 13,31-35), for example, dramatize that point

well.

            It’s a point that actually has been described,

articulated, praised a million times over the ages and still does not

sink deep enough in our consciousness as to become a guiding principle

for at least a majority of us.

            Using purely human reason, a Chinese wisdom, for example,

puts it this way, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single

step.” A similar idea is expressed in a more Christian tone—“Ad astra

per aspera” (To the stars through the rough road).

            It’s important that we give due attention to the small

things that comprise practically everything in our day. May we always

realize that these small things, like our daily duties in the family

and at work, play a crucial and strategic role in our life. We have to

overcome our tendency to take them for granted.

            As one saint put it, we should learn to convert the prose

of everyday life, the drudgery of daily concerns into beautiful,

poetic verses. This can happen if we look at the little things and

carry out our ordinary duties with love.

            Obviously, doing these ordinary things with love needs

some training. And that simply means that, first of all, God is

present everywhere. That’s because we cannot truly fall in love in

something or with someone unless we see God, the source of all

goodness, in them. We need to discern his presence and his designs in

everything.

            God is everywhere precisely because he is God. Nothing,

absolutely nothing, limits his presence in everything, whether big or

small, good or bad, rich or poor, in moments of success or of defeat,

etc.

            Our problem sometimes lies in the fact that we only find

reason to love when things are good, but good in a merely human or

natural way. It’s not the good that comes from the goodness of God who

defined it when Christ told us, for example, to love our enemies.

            Let’s remember what Christ precisely said in this regard.

“You have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor

and hate your enemy. But I say to you love your enemies, do good to

them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate

you.

            “That you may be the children of your Father who is in

heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and rain

upon the just and unjust. For if you love them that love you, what

reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this?” (Mt

5,43-46)

            We have to base our love on the love of God that covers

everything, even to the extent of sending his own son who became man,

and letting him bear all our sins by dying on the cross. His love is

completely inclusive, though, given our freedom, we can also choose to

exclude ourselves from that love.

            Seeing God in the small, ordinary things of our life is a

grave necessity for us. That’s because unless we see and find him

there, and unless we love him there, we cannot truly say that we can

see, find and love him in the big things that come only occasionally

in our life.

            Being able to see him and love him in these things and in

our adverse situations is truly a state of life proper to us here, and

a preparation for our definitive life in heaven where we are going to

see him face to face and in total bliss.

            We need to key our loving with the love of God for all of

us. We have to put our loving in synch with his love. That’s why we

need to thoroughly know his doctrine, follow closely the example of

Christ, the fullness of God’s revelation, and be faithful to the

Church which is the mystical body of Christ here on earth.

            We have to acquire the attitudes and the sentiments of

Christ. For this, we have to purify our mind and heart, going through

the process of conversion, constantly fighting off the enemies of our

soul and of God.

            We have to learn to pray always, to avail of the

sacraments, and appreciate the value of sacrifice. Only in this way

can we see God in everything and in everyone.