In today’s Gospel, we read about yeast, the leaven of the kingdom of God which is grace, the real leaven in a Christian’s life. Actual grace may touch us at any moment of the day. Or it may come through a word spoken by a friend, a glance or a picture. But what is this wonderful leaven called grace?

Actual grace is a help from God to live as true Christians. We receive it many times a day. It is an unmerited interior help which God gives us to strengthen us, when strength is needed, to warn us when caution is dictated, to give us courage, joy, and hope beyond the human. It is God’s alarm clock ringing in us. But it does more than the alarm clock. It not only tells us to get up, but also gives us a boost; it helps us to rise from sin, to rise above the mere natural.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians says: “It is God who works in you both to will and to accomplish.” This is actual grace. It not only inspires us to look for what is good but helps us to accomplish it. We will desire what is good only if our minds are enlightened. We must first know what is good. So we must not shut out the grace of knowledge. We must be open to the light, willing to do good reading, to think, to pray. We must keep the windows of our soul open.

Yet, even when we have been enlightened to know right from wrong, we still need the leaven of grace to raise us up to doing the right. God gives us this help, this strength, the drive and the desire to do what He wants. We all get these urgings in our innermost being, but too often we pay no attention to them.

Today, let us keep in mind that under God’s care even the tiniest beginning can grow and multiply to produce great things in His kingdom.