Many years ago, there were two famous painters in Rome.  One of them was Raphael and the other was Michelangelo.  They were rivals.  One day Raphael was painting beautiful figures on a wall in a palace close to the river.  He went out for lunch and when he came back, he noticed on a part of the wall which had not yet been painted, somebody had drawn a beautiful face. When Raphael saw it, he called his assistant and asked: ‘who had been here’.  The assistant said: ‘I didn’t see anybody, but there was a man walking in the garden with a hood over his head, maybe he came in and did it’. Raphael said with a smile, ‘Michelangelo was here’.  Michelangelo did not have to leave a signature nor a document, his work revealed who he was.  In today’s gospel Jesus tells us about his kingdom, and he said it is like a little mustard seed, which grows to be a large tree, and the birds of the air come and make their nests in it.  It is a kingdom where everybody is welcome, everybody feels at home.  We are invited to be members of this kingdom, we don’t have to wear a jersey nor a uniform, to show who we are.  Christians show who they are by the way they behave, by their lifestyle, by the way they treat other people, by their sincerity, generosity, kindness, and understanding. St. Paul tells us in the second reading today that we walk by faith and not by sight. This is a summary of what the Christian life is all about.  When it comes to God’s work and his presence, we see him through faith. Looking at things by sight, by ordinary perception sometimes it would seem that everything is lost, you would become very discouraged and begin to lose all hope, but we walk by faith not by sight and our faith tells us that God is always present in our world and is always at work. Jesus uses this parable of the mustard seed to describe how God is working though we cannot see it. Even the smallest beginnings God is working through them. This pattern is very evident in the history of Christianity. St. Francis of Assisi, snobbish son of a wealthy cloth merchant, rejected the wealth of his father and went to live a life somewhat like a hippy. While praying for enlightenment in the Church of San Damiano just outside Assisi he heard the voice of God asking him to rebuild his church which was in ruins; understanding this to be the church of San Damiano where he was praying, he began stone by stone to rebuild the church, but he soon realised that God was entrusting him a bigger task. Here we have again a small beginning, a mustard seed; he soon attracted followers and 100 years later his congregation came to be a worldwide organization and still is today. Mother Theresa of Calcutta left the comfort of her convent and went out into the poorest slums of India, a hopeless case written off be many, but we walk by faith and not by sight. She soon attracted followers and now her daughters of charity are all over the world and she said if there were poor people on the moon we would go there. A mustard seed, very small at the beginning but it grew into a powerful large shrub. How many times in the history of Christianity has the faith, has our church being written off by conventional thinking and wisdom? Never forget that we walk by faith and not by sight. Never give up on God, never follow what the ordinary perception tells us, look with the eyes of faith, and appreciate God’s work in your life and in our world, rebuilding our church. Song by the Dubliners: Don’t give up till it’s over, don’t quit if you can. The weight upon your shoulders will make you a better man. Grasp your nettle tightly, though it will burn, treat your failures lightly, your luck is bound to turn. Look at the autumn flowers how they wither and fade, with nature’s hidden powers, next year they’ll be remade. Don’t give up till it’s over, don’t quit if you can. The weight upon your shoulders will make you a better person.