We Are Sowers Too

22 July 2011

Today’s Readings: Ex 20:1-17 / Mt. 13:18-23

REFLECTION
In the parables the primary concern is the fate of the seed. Here, the emphasis is on the various kinds of soil which Jesus likens to the different types of hearers of his word. There are people who never make the transition from hearing to faith. Others respond with a short-lived faith that vanishes when hard times set in. Still others accept the word but allow worldly concerns to suffocate the faith. The best kind of course are those who hear, believe and actually do what God desires.

In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches that understanding refers not to intellectual awareness but to moral commitment. We will understand God’s words not by our own human effort but by grace. We will then be able to withstand the onslaught of temptation & tribulations and produce a bountiful harvest of the good fruits of obedience to God’s will.

PRAYER
Loving father, give us the grace to observe your teaching, to keep it with all our heart. Help us pray for the grace to understand, keep and live God’s words. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.