Sunday, June 13, 2021 11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark, 4:26-34

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46

Sister Anne Madeleine Brost, OSB

Where is the Kingdom of God? It seems to me that the author of Mark’s Gospel is trying to say the Kingdom of God is Everywhere. I will try to share my understanding of the Kingdom of God being Everywhere.

Today’s reading has a person scattering seed, and the seed growing. When the grain is ripe the person harvests it.  Then the author continues, comparing the Kingdom of God to mustard seed.  When I put the 2 stories together, I find that only God, or an herbalist would plant a field of Mustard. Farmers spend hours trying to rid their fields of Mustard.

So, the Kingdom of God is a field full of a grain that is not much appreciated.  We must harvest the grain.  Let this field be us, the persons living on this planet.  Where is this Mustard seed that is planted in us? Where is the Kingdom in us?  I believe it is in each one of us, because we are a part of Creation.  Sometimes we do not acknowledge our own dignity. To harvest it we must become aware of God in ourselves.   

What does that mean for me?  Am I living in the Kingdom of God with out recognizing it? Is this whole messy world the Kingdom?

Maybe so.

Two weeks ago, Sister Clare in her reflection for Trinity Sunday spoke of the Divine as the relationship of Love between and among the 3 persons of the Trinity.  She showed that we experience the Divine in our relationships with each other.  Hopefully, our first experience of Divine Love was with our parents.

Our deepest grasp of God’s Love comes as we know and love ourselves in God, and then as we come to know another as they are in the Divine.

I have begun to realize that God is an Evolutionary God.  As the Cosmos Becomes, so does the Divine creator. God is Love.   I do not think that God needs to know everything to be Love. Surprise is a gift to me, why not to God?

God is also Consciousness.  An ancient saying is that

 CONSCIOUSNESS is asleep in minerals, the rocks,

 CONSCIOUSNESS is dreaming in the plants, (including mustard)

 CONSCIOUSNESS is awakening in animals,

 CONSCIOUSNESS is becoming aware of itself in humans.

So, the Kingdom of God, Love, Consciousness, is planted Everywhere, and especially in humans, in you and me. We can become aware of God in ourselves.  We have many ideas and thoughts in our minds. We think and read and make connections.  But when we let go of all that our mind is doing, and just BE, we can be deeply in touch with the Kingdom, with our Oneness in God. With the mustard seed in ourselves.

Be still and know that I am God.  Be still and experience that I am God.

  When I let go of my thoughts, all my “doings”, my ego, who I tell myself that I am; when I be still, I know that I am at one in God, in Love, in the Kingdom, with All.

After his Resurrection, Jesus led  his disciples into experiencing himself in them.  He said, “Peace be with You.”

Maybe they remembered their last Supper with Jesus, when he gave them his body and blood, himself, God, the Divine, Love. Peace.

I think that when I go within me, to that place of Peace, I am becoming Aware     of God in me. 

 I let go of time and place, and BE in the Kingdom of God.  Sitting in church, before the liturgy begins.  In the Oratory, before prayer.  After the Sunday reflection.  Walking in the sun, or the rain…

But I cannot stay there. I am still on this planet and I need to do human things.  But sometimes I can be aware of that place of Peace, and act from it.  I spontaneously smile and greet someone. At a meeting, I share what I have not planned.  

We listen to another, without judging, and receive another’s Wisdom. We prepare for a presentation, or even a conversation, and then let go of our learnings and BE in the Oneness of the Divine.  And what we share is of God,

not just our ego talking about itself.  The more often we are aware of that place of Peace, the more we respond to the World with the wisdom of the Divine.

You know the experience of the Divine in yourself. That place of Peace. The Mustard seed, appreciated.

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know.

Be still.

BE.    In the Kingdom of God.