Perfect Duty

Today’s Gospel Text:  And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." Mark 4:26-32

Reflection: There are some people who are only concerned with performing their duty and nothing else.

There are some who hold on to this philosophy as if it is the only thing in life that counts; duty for duty sake!

It is a wonderful noble thought, but how can one  think about duty without a goal in life? On the other hand, a compulsion to perform, not originating from an upright moral source, is dangerous.

When one diligently follows the orders of duty without asking the subjective conscience, which God has created and which, unless it is totally contaminated, can result in moral degeneration of the society.

One of the popular examples of such obedience to the call of the duty is the famous holocaust and many genocides committed in the name of duty.

It is necessary for humanity to be safe in what it practices, in all of one’s action. One cannot just say we have to be practical and without asking conscience work for the betterment of society. That betterment has to be first defined, before being dutiful.

To those who would pay more attention to performing their duty then the best is what Christ Jesus gives us and he even shows us, in the parable above, the fruit of such a labour in God’s vineyard.

Such a duty is sound in every doctrine, because one will first pick up the seed which Christ himself, by means of the gospel, gives us and we have to dutifully sow it.

What is more, he shows us the process our action will generate and the fruit it will produce. Christ Jesus approves of the fruit and there is a reward that awaits, not the wages that perish but the abundance that should accompany us to eternal life.

Prayer: Lord, I pray that I may seek to sow the seed of the gospel and have the strength to do so dutifully.

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