Fifth Sunday of Autumn
Gospel Reading
The heavenly kingdom will not be established in a way that catches the eye. It will not be said that it is here or there. The heavenly kingdom is already in your midst. It can be compared to the leaven that a woman puts in three measures of flour. Until the whole ferments. It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man sows in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown the largest of all plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come to rest in its branches.
The heavenly kingdom will not be established in a way that catches the eye. It will not be said that it is here or there. The heavenly kingdom is already in your midst. It can be compared to the leaven that a woman puts in three measures of flour. Until the whole ferments. It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man sows in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown the largest of all plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come to rest in its branches.
Image: 'Parable of the Mustard Seed' by Jan Luyken, from the Bowyer Bible, 17th century.