The Church continues to grow.

Do any of you know what will become of young children? Only God knows this, and we smile if we look at a photo of a famous man from childhood. Now we know that this child is a famous person. At that time, no one knew it but God, and so it is with the Church. At its beginning, there were only the Twelve – and today? The kingdom of God, founded by the Lord Jesus, is miraculously spreading worldwide. And he explains this miraculous power with the parable of the mustard seed, which is one of the smallest, but when it grows, it reaches such dimensions that even a bird can dwell on its branches. Mustard seed received its extraordinary inner strength from its Creator.

The Lord Jesus says that, so it is with the kingdom of God on earth. It miraculously spread throughout the world from small beginnings, from the number of 12 apostles and several disciples. The inner strength for the growth of the Church is given by the Holy Ghost Himself, who is her beginning, her life, who directs her and nourishes her in the hearts of everyone who receives the kingdom of God. The Lord God gave the miraculous inner power of the Holy Ghost to fulfill her great mission.

If we were to ask people what the mission of the Church is, we would undoubtedly get different answers. The most fundamental mission of the Church is to sanctify people, both the individual and the entire human family, to achieve their eternal goal. How is the Church supposed to accomplish this? This question is answered by Heavenly Father Himself, who sends us His Son, Jesus Christ, to set an example and show us how to achieve His eternal goal.

To those who wonder if He is God and what He looks like, the Lord Jesus answers in an address with St. Philip. Philip asks Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” The Lord Jesus said to him, “Philip, I have been with you for so long, and do you not know me?! He who sees me sees the Father… “ (Jn 14:8-9). To those who would like to remove all the commandments and yet want to pretend to be free and thus please God more than those who keep the commandments, the Lord Jesus says, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, as I keep the commandments of my Father, and abide in his love” (Jn 15:10). “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them” (Mt 5:17).

Christ supplemented the commandments by proclaiming the eight Beatitudes he had given as the basis of the Christian life. Finally, the Lord summarized them in one sentence: “This is my commandment: That ye love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). The Lord Jesus asks for this love to be complete. Man is to love not only the Lord God with all his heart, but also his friends and enemies. The tragedy of our days is that today’s man does not want to submit to this and pays a high price for his misery. Even those who think it is enough to go to church are mistakenly believed. The Lord Jesus never urged people to go to church. However, the Lord Jesus spent most of his time walking and doing good deeds, healing, instructing the ignorant in faith, saturating the lazy, and forgiving sins. Thus, he spent most of his time sanctifying a person, helping a person to be temporal and eternal happiness. This is the mission of the Church. Even in our century, the Church reminds man that Christ founded His kingdom and that He based it on pardoned hearts. Christ lives and reigns only in those hearts that humble themselves and acknowledge what Jesus said: “… for without me, there is nothing you can do. If anyone does not remain in me, they will throw him out like a branch and wither” (Jn 15:5-6).

When a person humbles himself before the Lord God and acknowledges his unworthiness, he resembles a tiny mustard seed, to which the Lord will give stature and bring an abundant harvest of tactualvalue. The mental misery of the world in our time reaches catastrophic proportions. Even today, the Lord Jesus offers His salvation to the world. He offers it through his kingdom, to which he gave his miraculous power. In the words of the holy gospel, he emphasizes to the world to humble itself and accept Jesus, for there is no salvation in anyone else but him.

If we looked today at a photograph of the apostles from when the Church was founded, we would surely smile. Today’s Church would not be placed on a single picture by any artist or photographer. Amen.