In St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians he calls us all to “live by the Spirit, . . . keep in step with the Spirit.” (5:25) I think we so underestimate the meaning of these words: “live by the Spirit”. It certainly does not mean that we are perfect, but it speaks to our immense giftedness and so an unimaginable capacity to do the good: to be gentle with one another, to be present for one another, to recognize that we can be instruments of God’s presence in the world. But it does require effort on our part. Not the effort of “doing things”, but before that the effort of “being” a certain way. Pope Francis once reminded us that we are not called simply to be “social workers”, rather we are called to be witnesses of God’s presence in our lives and the life of the world. By doing so, we change the world for the better. This past week’s readings offered us two images for followers of Christ: a tiny seed that falls on good ground, and a mustard seed. Both images speak to our life in the Spirit. No single seed achieves monumental things. But each seed brings forth fruit, each seed becomes part of something greater, every seed by being what it is, is a blessing! So too each of us, called to live in the Spirit, to nurture a relationship with Christ in the Holy Spirit become a wonderful seed. We open ourselves to God’s Word, we inhale the Spirit, we partake of the Eucharist, we grow to truly be who we are meant to be: God’s image and likeness for the world!