July 13, 2014:
Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55:10-11: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth … my word shall not return to me voice, but shall do my will.
Psalm 65: The seed that falls on good ground will yield fruitful harvest.
Romans 8:18-23: I consider that sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God … all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now. …
Matthew 13:1-23: Jesus said …. “But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
July is the month of the Most Precious Blood
Scripture Notes from the Sourcebook:
THE FIRST READING: The image of rain and snow watering the earth and bringing forth fruit thus accomplishing the purpose for which they were sent by the Lord – is an apt illustration of the life-giving effect God intends his Word to have in the minds and hearts of those who hear it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 65: The first two stanzas of today’s antiphon celebrate the blessing of the rain and snow that renders the earth abundantly fertile. God’s blessings bring joy to the human heart. Today’s antiphon is adapted from the parable of the sower and the seed (today’s account of the gospel).
SECOND READING: Creation is likewise the focus of today’s Second Reading, in particular, its struggles and labors to become a new creation in the fullness of time, when God’s glory – and human glory in him, and indeed, all creation’s glory in him – is fully realized (see Revelation 21:1-4). Paul leaves no doubt: all creation will transformed at the end of time.
THE GOSPEL: The parable of the sower and the seed is the heart of today’s Gospel. The interpretation most likely stems from the time of the evangelist and the early Church. As in today’s reading from Isaiah, the seed is the one who receives the Word. The interpretation clearly asserts that growth and fruitfulness are determined by the type of soil that receives the seed. The intervening verse (see Matthew 13:10-17) address the perplexing problem of why not all who heard Jesus believed in him. Matthew can only assert that so it had been foretold in the prophets (see Matthew 13:14-15). In stark contrast to those who do not or cannot hear are the disciples who do see and hear.
PASTORAL REFLECTION: When you are on public display, having to give and provide even when think you have nothing left to give, who persona do people see? Play with poses and postures that force you to discover balance: tree pose in yoga, walking anything that could be a balance beam, or simply standing on tippy toe! In each moment of attempt at inner balance, consider the peace of Jesus in knowing how to meet the needs of the crowds and provide bites of wisdom. Or, if you are visual, get a spider plant and cut a piece off to create another plant and watch the roots grow. In the container of water, the graces of our soul in Jesus, watch the tender roots become the strength that lasts.--2014 Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons & Weekends
John Chrysostom (c. 349-407 AD) commented, “The fact that the greater part of the seed perished was not due to the sower but to the soil, that is, the mind. The Sower [Christ] made no distinction between rich and poor, wise or foolish, but spoke to all alike….” Chrysostom also noted how non-judgmental the story is. “He does not judge them openly and say, This is what the lazy received and they lost it, this is what the rich got and they choked it, this is what careless people got and they neglected it. He would not harshly reprove them, so as not to alienate them altogether.”
Another ancient commentator: “The wayside is the mind trodden and hardened by the continual passage of evil thoughts; the rock, the hardness of the self-willed mind; the good soil, the gentleness of the attentive mind.”
Look carefully at the word ‘mind’. In mediaeval times there appeared a useful distinction between the active and the passive mind. The active is the analytical mind, the passive is the contemplative. In our age the active mind gets all the praise, and the passive or contemplative mind tends to be passed over in silence.
Passive means receptive or listening. Remember the last time you tried to have a conversation with someone who never listens? Perhaps you both talked a lot, but there was no conversation, your minds were not engaged with each other. At such times you feel more alone than when you are alone. In the total absence of the contemplative spirit, this is what the whole world would be like.
“When God undertakes the work, the mind must remain passive,” wrote Meister Eckhart. A disciple of Jesus is one who receives the seed of God's word into good soil. Soil is ‘humus’, which gives us the word ‘humility’. “God cannot work except in the ground of humility,” Eckhart continued, “for the deeper we are in humility, the more receptive to God….The more a person is sunk in the ground of true humility, the more he or she is sunk in the ground of divine being.”
‘Passive’, ‘humble’…. These are not popular words today; they are in fact counter-cultural. Men especially would be ashamed of having any of these words used of them. But try to imagine someone who had no vestige of either: he (or she) would be an embodiment of ego. Our deeper self would not be ashamed of these words. They are the language of the Beatitudes, which are like a portrait of Christ himself. This is the deeper soil from which real growth happens in us. And the seed of God's word is able to wait till the soil is right.
We are living in a deafening world. The noise of machines is sometimes hard to bear, but far more deafening is the insistence of the human voice. It is almost impossible to escape from it. Every age, no doubt, talked its full; but we have ways of storing, multiplying, amplifying and broadcasting the voice now till it fills every crevice in our lives. A new magazine was advertised as “opinionated.” This word means “thinking too highly of, or adhering persistently to, one’s opinions; conceited; obstinate in opinion; dogmatic.” How bizarre that that word should be used to advertise a magazine! How many people would like to have, say, a son-in-law who was “opinionated”? Yet it is regarded as a desirable quality in a magazine. We are in a strange place now. How will the word of God penetrate our noise? Some seeds fell on asphalt, and some seeds were swept away by torrents of language from DJs and advertisers….
But even so, “Your word, O Lord, for ever stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 118).
--- Donagh O’Shea for the Dominicans of Ireland, Today’s Good News
________________________________________________________________________________
A Reflection on Today’s Gospel
In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus shows us that there are four types of hearts that receive the Gospel. The first type does not hear the Gospel because it is unable to hear it. The stony heart is insensible to spiritual things and to these hearts the Gospel is complete foolishness and utter nonsense. The Gospel lands on this heart like a stray seed on hot, hard ground – fully exposed to the elements until it is easily snatched away by the devil.
The second type of heart hears the Gospel and receives it with joy, but soon these good convictions wither and die under the difficulties of life. In this heart, the Gospel penetrates the surface and is received. The seed even germinates and sends up a shoot. But because there is no spiritual depth, the tender shoot is devoured by the heat for lack of sufficient water and nutrients. Because this heart takes in so little of the Word, the roots are unable to sustain themselves. So the approval of others, fear of ridicule and the fear of losing possessions for the sake of Jesus quickly cause these hearts to cower and abandon the Gospel.
The third type of heart hears the Gospel. The Gospel takes root and grows, but the weeds of life soon overpower and choke off the message. Worries over money, health and fame are tolerated and are allowed to grow up alongside the Gospel. The weeds in this heart are fed with superstitions and showy good works as they quietly overcome any desire to live for Jesus by faith.
The fourth type of heart hears the Gospel and embraces it. It is a heart that yields fruit because its soil is tilled and is naturally fertile. The weeds have been pulled up and discarded and the ground has been watered and fertilized with the Word by the Master Gardner. The plants produced in this soil explode and produce unnaturally good yields of hearty and strong offspring. The shoots in this soil have deep and broad roots that choke off any new weeds that try to grow up around them.
Jesus spoke parables to fulfill Scripture. The people’s eyes were closed and remained closed because they were not able nor willing to see the Good News. They did not press Jesus for answers to his parables. Instead, they pressed him for miracles to amaze and to entertain them. They did not follow after him to find freedom from their sin. They instead followed him in the hope of having him bring them freedom from the Romans or to gain prestige through the hope of serving in an earthly kingdom that possessed great power.
So Jesus spoke in parables knowing that those God would draw to himself would be those who had ears to hear and embrace the Gospel.
Jesus’ warning is clear: Strive to bear good fruit. Strive to have good soil in your hearts so that the Word can take root and grow. The type of hearer we become will reveal our eternal destiny, and this is why we must seek Jesus through meditating on his Word, and by pleading with the Father that he will increase our spiritual hearing and give us fresh sights of his Son. – from http://www.atone.me/parable-of-the-sower-matthew-131-23/
Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.
All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of — indolence, or action.
Be ignited, or be gone.
by Mary Oliver
Spirituality means waking up.
Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep.
They never understand the loveliness and beauty
of this thing that we call human existence.
Anthony De Mello, SJ
Reflection for July 13, 2014: Growing Things
There’s a lot of stuff happening in the readings for today: Rain is falling and sun is shining and seeds are growing everywhere on the earth. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest, sings the psalm, beautifully describing the beauty of creation: You have crowned the year with your bounty / and your paths overflow with a rich harvest / the untilled meadows overflow with it / and rejoicing clothes the hills. In the second reading, Paul reminds us that all of us are in this together: not just human beings, as self-important as we tend to be, but everything else that exists in this bright strange universe – including every living thing that God has created -- is joined with us in the hope of God’s glorious freedom and redemption. And in the Gospel, Jesus takes the theme of planting and growing one step further, explaining that you and I are also ground for God’s sowing. The word of God has been planted in our hearts, but Jesus warns us that just dropping a seed in the ground is not enough: You need to put things in the right places, and take care of them wisely, if you want all your seeds to one day sprout, and be green and growing and strong.
I don’t know about you, but if I try to imagine the growing conditions in my particular soul, I get a little uneasy. I expect my soul is a lot like my yard: Over the years, I’ve planted some good things alive in it, but I’ve also neglected it often enough to encourage the growth of a lot of weeds, more weeds than I keep up with. The big tree out front is generally lovely and green, and the shade it makes is delightful – but when a strong wind comes up, some of the older, sicker, weaker branches tend to drop off and die. My lilacs bloom beautifully almost every spring, but they could use some trimming, and the perennial flowers in the backyard are remarkably sturdy: The delphiniums and daisies and all their bright buddies are blooming now in a riotous dance of color. The strawberries this June were wonderfully sweet, though more than once I got muscle spasms trying to stood down and pick them. Unfortunately, the weeds are doing equally well: The bindweed and burdock and all the rest of the gang are having a fine old time, and as for the Siberian elms, they’ve become so powerful that they’ve begun to demand a seat on the U.N. Security Council.
In fact, my yard would be an overgrown horrid burdocky bindweedy desert, if I hadn’t finally realized that I just can’t keep up with it on my -- that, in fact, it was time to hire somebody to help me out with the hard stuff. I just couldn’t do it alone, as much as I wanted to.
Well, my soul is in similar shape, and I’m afraid I often neglect its care and yet am too stubborn to ask for help when I need it. The really bad thing is that I know what I need to do to keep the Word of God green and growing in my life. It’s not like yard work, where a bad back can give you an excuse for slacking off. I know I am able to tend to my soul no matter what’s going on. The problem is that I don’t. I wonder why that is?
Somewhere, Paul talks about the very same problem, about how mystified he is every time he does those things he doesn’t want to do, and doesn’t do the things that he knows he should. It’s as if there’s spiritual weeds in all of our lives, and if we don’t pay attention, before we know it, the darn things are everywhere. Sometimes, it’s a lot like bindweed: Maybe brought on by laziness, or the kind of behavior that arises starts with a few not-so-good little habits. All of a sudden, you wake up one morning and realize whatever it is has taken over everything, climbing up the sunflowers and smothering the strawberries. How did it get to be such a problem? After all, bindweed starts out small and pretty, and at first it’s seems like it’s easy to get rid of. The first time I saw those delicate little flowers, in fact, I thought, Oh, how pretty they are! What kind of ignorant person started calling them weeds? I mean, what could be the harm in those dainty little plants with their sweet little flowers? Right. As everyone knows, you let just one of those little bindweed vines in, and before you know it, they’re growing out of your ears and twining around your toes. It’s as good a metaphor for sin as I’ve ever heard of.
Of course, there are other weeds that thrive in me as well: The spiky thistles of resentment and bitterness, the stubborn sins and the many bad habits that are as deeply rooted in my life as Siberian elms. I suspect I have aphids, too, and I know for a fact that my soil needs work: There are lots of rocks still deep in the ground that I will need help to remove; they’re just too big and heavy for one person to carry.
It’s a lot of work to care for the garden of the soul. How does one start? Well, what could be better than daily prayer -- the regular watering of our souls, when we pause before God and open ourselves to the help and the grace of his love. And of course we can till our soil with the Scriptures and with other spiritual reading, and fertilize it with good works, and nourish it with Christ’s wonderful gift, the Eucharist. There are certainly times when any yard work seems like a whole lot of trouble. But the garden won’t grow unless someone shows up to take care of it. As Jesus said: The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. And, he added, looking us straight in the eye: That person indeed bears fruit. In Jesus’ name. --Diane Sylvain