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Homily for Friday of the 3rd Week in OT, 31 January 2025, Mk 4:26-34
There is a scene in the old movie on the life of St Francis entitled “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” where Francis starts rebuilding the ruined Church of San Damiano. The movie is a musical, so he is singing a song that seems to me to have been inspired by today’s Gospel on the parable of the kingdom of God as a slow but sure process or dynamic.
Take note, the parable is about the kingdom of God—how it works or comes about. Sometimes to get the true sense of the parable, we havr to avoid focusing on just one detail—like the seed. Here it has to do with the whole process that involves a man working on the land, patiently sowing seeds, sleeping and waking up day by day, observing the seeds sprouting, gradually growing, bearing fruit, all of it happening by itself. He does not know exactly how it happens, but by doing his part in the whole process, it happens. And before he knows it, he is already harvesting. The song is entitled, “The Little Church”. It says,
“If you want your dream to be
Take your time, go slowly
Do few things but do them well
Heartfelt work grows purely”
“If you want to live life free
Take your time, go slowly
Do few things but do them well
Heartfelt work grows purely”
“Day by day, stone by stone
Build your secret slowly
Day by day, you’ll grow too
You’ll know heaven’s glory”
The constant thought that keeps repeating itself in the song is the line that says,
TAKE YOUR TIME, GO SLOWLY
DO FEW THINGS BUT DO THEM WELL.
It is what the first reading from Hebrews is also emphasizing. As you build outside, you also build inside yourself: the song also says that, DAY BY DAY, STONE BY STONE, BUILD YOUR SECRET SLOWLY. DAY BY DAY YOU’LL GROW TOO, YOU’LL KNOW HEAVEN’S GLORY.
We also say in English, “Haste makes waste.” Meaning, the more we rush things, the more we tend to make mistakes and end up delaying the process. As they say in Cebuano, HINAY-HINAY BASTA KANUNAY—meaning, Do things slowly but surely.
Of course we prefer to do things faster, but even runners start by gradually building a momentum and then they can speed up and sustain the momentum to the finish line.
The first reading has an insight to add—about that which usually makes us fail: the lack of confidence, or the tendency to draw back. I like the image used in Tagalog for this: URONG-SULONG, atubili, nagdadalawang-loob. When you are not determined inside about what you are doing, how can you expect good results? The writer therefore says, DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE.
When you get involved while half of you says yes, and the other half says no, most likely you end up not achieving anything. Build your dream inside yourself before building it outside. That is what faith is about.
