The BIG Feast Days are completed! Holy Week, Easter, the Ascension, Pentecost, Holy Trinity, and Corpus Christi are behind us and we are back in “Ordinary Time.” I feel like rendering a verse of “I’m back in the saddle again!” As I have mentioned before, Ordinary Time is not like a “Ho-Hum” time. Rather it’s the time for us to go about our normal lives bolstered by the graces we have received during these special times of the Church Year (Lent, Easter, etc.). It’s a time for us to listen closely to the Holy Gospel and to make the day to day choices that cause us to build the Kingdom of God and strengthen our relationship with Jesus. As you’re reading this, you might be thinking, “Hey, I’m just ‘lil ol’ me,’ what can I possibly contribute to the building up of the Kingdom of GOD?” Well, do I have news for you! This weekend’s Holy Gospel reading was written for YOU! You’ll remember this parable. It’s about the planting of a mustard seed. The mustard seed is SO SMALL (just like you and me), but, once planted, it can grow into a very large tree with multiple branches! Ba-da-bing! The smallest kindness that you or I do can change a person’s life radically. Do you believe it? The seed of faith and action lies dormant within each of us. When we permit the Holy Spirit to nurture it, it grows miraculously into GIGANTIC proportions. The growth may be slow and microscopic in the beginning, but the seed grows gradually by using the power of the Holy Spirit, given to us through the Gospel message, the Eucharist, the sacraments, prayer, and the good example of others. Draw on this!!! Michelangelo, one of the world's great artists, was also a great sculptor. One day a visitor was looking at a statue that Michelangelo was making. The visitor said, "I can't see that you have made any progress since I was here last time." Michelangelo answered, "Oh, yes, I have made much progress. Look carefully and you will see that I have retouched this part, and that I have polished that part. See, I have worked on this part of the statue, and have softened the lines here." "Yes," said the visitor, "but those are all trifles." "That may be," replied Michelangelo, "but trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle." Successful people are aware of the trifles. As an Ethiopian proverb puts it, "When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion." The great writer Bruce Barton once said, "I am tempted to think there are no little things." That is why Jesus compares the growth of the kingdom of God to the growth of a tiny mustard seed. GOSPEL HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK: Think about the gifts God has given you…accept them…and then use them to add your touches to “building the Kingdom of God.”