We know not how

 

In recent days I have been pottering away – literally – sowing and planting on from tiny little seeds like the mustard seed. Jesus said:

The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head (Mark 4:26-28).

So, it is with the mass. We hear again and again the same words and familiar readings and responsorial psalms.  Much of the mass is taken directly from the Bible and the rest is steeped in it. We hear the word, we digest it, it germinates and it grows.  We do not know how.  The Sower is  in charge. From every mass we are sent forth (Ite, missa est).

And now at this late hour the words of Compline beckon:

Protect us, Lord, while we are awake, and guard us while we sleep, that we may keep watch with Christ and rest with him in peace.