[00:00] The parables of our Lord follow a tradition of parables that God himself had always used when He was teaching the people of Israel. We see that He even uses some very graphic parables when He brings into it the very life of the prophets. Here you have Jeremiah

[00:32] having to go and buy a loincloth, which we would consider underwear, and have him as an example of this rotted, no good, or good for nothing cloth. And as a comparison to the pride of Judah, of the people of Israel, in rejecting our Lord. Then you have him, and there's many other examples of these parables in which our Lord has the prophets do things

[01:05] in their life, whether it take, at one point He gets one prophet to take a pot that represents Jerusalem and stand outside the city and various things. He gets one prophet to marry a woman of ill repute so that she would leave him and become an example while he's preaching of Israel's idolatry, but compared it to adultery. So, in the gospel, our Lord has

[01:42] this graphic image of the mustard seed. The kingdom of God is like the smallest of little seeds that is planted and then it grows into a great tree, a great bush in which animals and birds of the air can come and rest in it or underneath it. Then He compares it to yeast, yeast that is added to flour in order that it will grow into bread and continue and keep on

[02:16] going. So, we know that our Lord spoke in parables so that those who had the dispositions would understand and those that did not have the dispositions of searching for the truth, the good dispositions which are required in order to understand and hear God. So, that is why He said "blessed are those who have understood like little children because the kingdom of God is revealed to

[02:47] those who are like little children." It's always about the dispositions. It's always about how our Lord wants to reward those who trust in Him. Our Lord will give His wisdom to the simple, but those who are prideful, just like Judah, He blocks those who are prideful from understanding His word. So, the kingdom of heaven is, as we have witnessed throughout history, like a mustard seed. It has

[03:25] small beginnings, but it grows and grows until its completion, until the time that our Lord calls it His bride, which is the Church, His people, back to Himself on the last day. And we see, especially, one of the greatest examples of this mustard seed would be how the truth of the faith was planted in the new world, especially in Mexico. How God planted the seed through His missionaries, through

[04:03] those that came and taught the aboriginals, the natives, the gospel truth. But then that seed needs to be watered by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, which the life of the Holy Spirit, which runs through the Church, that gives it life and growth. And we see that when Our Lady appeared in Mexico City, that she gave that water, that grace to the people through her apparition, through her

[04:41] miraculous image. And there has never been as many people who converted at that time, or throughout the history of the Church, than at that time in Mexico, when over 8 million to 10 million people converted in seven to eight years, to the point that the priests, the few priests that were there, could not even lift their arms at the end of the day. They could barely lift their arms to baptize. They were baptizing over 200 people a day. So you can imagine all the work that they did,

[05:17] and they only converted a few thousand, which is still pretty incredible. But it takes God and His grace to do the rest. So we do what we can. We learn the truth, and we pass on that truth, and the rest is given to God in order that He might bring forth the growth of that mustard seed, which is planted, and that He allows us to participate in planting in the culture in which we live.

[05:50] So let us ask our Lord to give us a share of that wisdom that Solomon asked for. Let us ask Him to give us a share in His mission of announcing what is laid hidden from the foundation of the world, and we will see the fruits of our labor. We will see how God, we plant the seed, but God gives the growth. It happens also in our spiritual life, that God himself, if we are patient, if we

[06:23] trust in Him, that truth and the grace which He has given us will grow and bring forth much fruit in virtues and in merits.