Latest / Padre Alberto (Father Albert) / GOES DOES GREAT THINGS with very little

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GOES DOES GREAT THINGS with very little · Padre Alberto (Father Albert)

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  One of the many dangers of our times is that we tend to fall
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  into the trap of greatness. I'm going to repeat it.
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  The trap of greatness. What I mean by that is we're
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  consumed with bigger is better, more means better.
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  Almost like he who dies with the most toys wins.
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  Remember that? Yeah, here's the Lord teaching
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  us the opposite. Let's look at it.
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  If we look at Christianity, Christianity itself began very
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  small. Jesus brought together 12
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  ordinary disciples, 12 working men, and he brought them from
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  all walks of life. There was even a tax collector
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  among them. There was no political power, no
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  wealth, no army. Just come and follow me.
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  And they did. And, you know, the early church
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  often met in homes. They didn't have big, big
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  churches like we do now. They met in homes and they met
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  underground many times because the first centuries Christians
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  were persecuted for their faith. And so they were in the
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  catacombs and hidden from the authorities.
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  And so there were small groups of people who believed in Jesus.
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  And from those small groups, from those small communities
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  came this worldwide church. Today there's over 2 billion
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  people proclaim to be followers of Jesus.
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  So Christianity went from 12 to over 2 billion today in our
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  times, but it started with only 12.
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  The Internet. You know how the Internet
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  started? It was a small research project
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  trying to connect two or three computers at a time.
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  The Internet began with two or three computers trying to
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  connect with each other. Today, of course, billions of
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  people are connected on the Internet.
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  Not only that, we can't live without the Internet.
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  We depend on the Internet for everything, right?
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  For almost every transaction, we need the Internet.
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  Not too long ago, we survived fine without it, but now we need
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  it. It's a necessity.
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  It connects the world. The world is connected.
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  Remember that WWW We used to call it what?
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  The World Wide Web, right? Connected Google.
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  Google began as a research project in a university dorm.
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  You imagine that Apple, of course, you know this one was
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  founded by two guys in a garage who had a vision.
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  Amazon began in another garage, one guy selling books and
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  Coca-Cola. This is a great 1.
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  Coca-Cola began as a fountain drink in a pharmacy in Atlanta.
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  Did you know that a pharmacy in Atlanta before it became of
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  course, one of the biggest brands or recognized brands in
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  the world? So let us ask ourselves this
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  question today. What is the small seed that God
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  could be asking me to plant and what are the results from
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  planting just that small seed? When I was about 15 years old, I
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  went on a retreat, like a youth encounter youth retreat.
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  And we used to write each other encouraging notes.
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  We call them palancas, right? Or, or letters of encouragement.
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  And many of our Curcio people will receive a palanca this
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  weekend or write one for someone else.
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  And inside my palanca that I remember so well, there was a
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  holy card. I still have it somewhere in one
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  of my books over there in the office.
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  It's either in one of my Bibles or one of my books.
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  And it was a little tiny card like this.
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  And inside the card there was a little implanted mustard seed
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  with this same Bible verse we just read here from Matthew 13.
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  And if you look at it carefully, it's so small it almost looks
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  like a speck, like a speck of dust.
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  Tiny, tiny mustard seed. You can miss it.
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  You can lose it. And here Jesus uses this as an
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  example of the Kingdom of God, the tiniest seed.
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  What can we say about yeast? What yeast can I bring into the
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  world to give hope to others, to make hope grow?
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  Hey, guess what? Hope needs to grow in our times,
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  Yes or no? Who agrees that hope needs to
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  grow? We have to be the yeast as
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  Christians, as people of faith, to inspire others to not lose
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  hope so that hope may grow among us.
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  Have you ever heard the name James Harrison?
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  I know all of you all know George Harrison.
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  Everyone knows George Harrison, right?
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  One of The Beatles. But did you ever hear the name
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  James Harrison? James was from Australia.
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  When James was 14 years old, he had to have a very serious
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  surgery on his thoris here on his chest.
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  And that surgery saved his life, but only because he received
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  multiple, multiple blood transfusions from unknown
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  strangers. Without those transfusions
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  transfusions, there was no way James would make it through his
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  surgery. So at the age of 14, he promised
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  himself something. He said when I turn 18, I'm
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  going to become a regular blood donor so that I can save the
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  lives of other people as mine was saved by transfusion or
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  multiple transfusions. Or wouldn't you know it, the
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  first time James Harrison went to give blood, doctors
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  discovered that his blood was very rare.
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  It was almost like a natural superhero power type blood
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  because it had a unique antibody.
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  At that time, thousands of babies were dying or being born
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  with severe brain damage because of rhesus disease.
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  You ever heard of that Rhesus disease?
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  RHESUS. I'm probably pronouncing it
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  wrong. Rhesus disease, it was a
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  condition where a pregnant mother, her immune system was
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  accidentally, accidentally, I'm sorry, attacking her own baby,
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  her own unborn baby in the womb. And so with this antibody that
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  our friend James Harrison had, doctors were able to create a
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  life saving injection. They were using his blood
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  plasma. James had a unique blood plasma
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  to create life saving and and a life saving injection called
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  Anti D Capital D for over 60 years. 60 James Harrison went to
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  the clinic every single week to donate plasma because he donated
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  from his right arm many times, the nurses and doctors nicknamed
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  his right arm the man with the golden arm.
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  But imagine this man gave blood 1173 times over the course of
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  his life. They made him stop at the age of
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  81, but his blood helped to create medicine that saved more
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  than 2.4 million babies. 2.4 million babies were saved by
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  this amazing antibody that James produced.
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  And guess what? One of the babies he saved was
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  his own grandson. His own grandson, now James, was
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  forced into retirement from giving blood at the age of 81.
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  He died at 88 of natural causes. But he left behind the legacy of
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  one of the greatest health heroes in history.
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  And he did it quietly. Many found out about this after
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  he died, but since it was down in Australia, who knows?
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  Many didn't hear what happened down under.
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  What is the teaching the Lord is giving us through all these
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  little parables all mixed together in Matthew 13?
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  I believe it means this, or at least it means this to me and I
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  share with you. Never underestimate those little
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  things that matter. Never underestimate what God can
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  do with one prayer. You mention what God can do with
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  one prayer without 1 little seed, one act of kindness.
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  What God can do with one little invitation to church.
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  When I was a young priest 31 years ago, my first assignment,
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  about 15 minutes that way, there was a lady that did everything
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  at church. She opened the church, she
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  closed the church, she set up the altar.
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  She did this, she did everything, but same as she
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  prepared everything for the priest.
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  Everything was impeccable. Little Edna, she was a sweet,
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  sweet lady. One day I said to her, and how
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  long have you been in this church?
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  By this time Enda was maybe late 80s, early 90s.
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  Oh, Father, I've been here 50 years.
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  Oh, my God, really. And, and tell me how, how did
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  you get to this church? And she says, well, you know, I
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  grew up a Protestant in the Presbyterian Church.
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  I didn't know what Mass was, didn't know what liturgy was
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  nothing like this. But one of my neighbors who's a
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  devout, devout Catholic, noticed that I didn't go to church on
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  Sunday. And she one day came and knocked
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  on my door and said, And then you want to come to church with
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  me? And she brought me to church.
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  And ever since then I never stopped coming.
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  Why do I share this with you? Because one prayer, one act of
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  kindness, one invitation to church 1 can change everything.
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  One word of forgiveness. We forget that sometimes a
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  single word of forgiveness, of love, of compassion can mean so
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  much. One blood donation.
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  We see that big red truck out there all the time.
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  We say I'll do it next time. Or we don't think that one
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  simple gesture like that will make a difference.
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  But it can make a huge difference.
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  It can change not just one life, many lives.
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  So the Kingdom of God often begins with what seems as small
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  as a mustard seed. But in God's hands, that mustard
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  seed can become a large, large blessing.
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  A little yeast may not seem like a lot, but it transforms not
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  just a loaf, it can transform the world.
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  And if one faithful disciple, if one Christian, one follower of
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  Jesus does something simple with great love, it can change the
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  world. The great Mother Teresa of
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  Calcutta used to say that God doesn't need us to do a lot of
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  extraordinary things. He needs us to do the small,
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  ordinary things with love, because those small ordinary
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  things that we do with love are the ones that transform the
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  world. In the name of the Father, and
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  of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.