The kingdom of God
Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to welcome you all to celebrate today’s holy Mass. And our special welcome to all our summer parishioners, cottagers, visitors and everyone who is here today and I also would like to thank you all for coming out today to celebrate Jesus who is the kingdom of god. Dear friends every time we come to church, we come to know that we belong to the kingdom of God where we experience love and kindness and every time we come to Church, we come that the kingdom of God is among us giving us life and joy and every time we come to Church we ourselves become the kingdom of God.
In today’s gospel, Jesus our Lord speaks about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is like a person who sowed good seeds in his field thinking they would grow and multiply as thirty, sixty and hundred fold but while everyone was away or sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds. Then the laborers came and asked the Master, “Master, we know you planted only wheat but we see weeds also. “Shall we go and remove them?”The master said, “no, my friends. Let them grow together and we shall remove them at harvest time.
Story number one: Once the famous scientist, writer and painter Leonardo Da Vinci who painted the famous last supper was searching for a man who could pose Jesus Christ in the painting. He looked for a man whose face would have a divine peace and calmness, whose face would reflect love and kindness, forgiveness and mercy and Da Vinci finally found a man near Milan and then He asked him to pose as model for Christ the Lord and the man gladly accepted. And thus Da Vinci finished painting Christ and then one by one he painted all other apostles except Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord. By then He spent more than two years and then He began to search for a man whose face would reflect ugliness and revenge and deception and other horrible characters and after a long search, Da Vinci finally found a man who exactly fit for his ideas and He asked him to pose for Judas and this man also accepted and he thus finished painting the last supper and thanked him. While they were saying good bye, the man looked at Da Vinci and asked, “Do you remember me?’ Da Vinci said, “No… I do not”. The man then said, “I am the same person who posed for Jesus Christ two years ago and now you asked me to pose for Judas Iscariot”.
Da Vinci asked what happened to you and the man said, I who was good became bad and I was like a wheat plant but now like a weed”. The master sowed only good seeds not weeds and He who planted good seed will wait until harvest and then He will remove good from bad.
Then Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which is the smallest of all seeds and when it begins to grow it becomes a tree where birds and animals come for shelter.
Story number two Once a famous agriculture company mailed postcards where there glued some mustard seeds to people saying, “if you have faith the size of mustard seed in our products, you will see big change in your life”. And few months later, a man sent a letter to the company saying, “I sowed your mustard seeds and now I am getting good tomatoes”.

Jesus is the mustard seed. Yes, He was born unknown among the poor and the rejected and had only twelve apostles and today Christianity is still growing and everyone who comes to Church experience unconditional love and kindness of God our Father through Christ our Lord.
Jesus then compares the kingdom of god to a woman who uses yeast and with the right mix, the flour begins to grow, the kingdom of God means bringing result and making things grow and today we are called to become the kingdom of God and thus people who are away may come back and know divine love and forgiveness. Amen.