On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
A very large crowd gathered around him
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables,
and in the course of his instruction he said to them,
"Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
He added, "Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear."
And when he was alone,
those present along with the Twelve
questioned him about the parables.
He answered them,
"The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven."
Jesus said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”
Reflection:
As our family started discussion on this Gospel reading, my husband said,
“Let us put ourselves in one of the categories of soil in the parable. Ask yourself, 'which one are you'? This parable will help us to dig deep and find out a little more about ourselves.”
As we each took turns we found it difficult to just sit down and say which soil the seed of God’s Word falls upon in our hearts. We found that we all have good days and bad days. Some days when we are gathered together we all take part and contribute to this reflection. Today, we were very distracted with things that needed to get done.
I asked, “would it be possible that, maybe everyday is a new day to take in the Word of God and watch it grow in our lives? Today may be when the Word of God is sown among the thorns of distractions we are facing.”
My husband believes that the Gospel is black and white. You are at one of the levels of soil and you work at getting to the rich soil everyday.
What are your thoughts? How would you put this Gospel reading into your life so that it can take root?
We prayed this evening, that all who would read and hear this Gospel reading (including us) would be open to receiving the graces we need and to allow God’s Word to take root in our hearts and bear fruit that would last.
May God bless us all!
