May the Lord give you peace and grace in the Lord.
Are we sowing the seeds of healing or peeling?
It is 16th July 2023. We celebrate the fifteenth Sunday of the Ordinary time. We reflect on Isaiah 55:10-11 / Romans 8:18-23 / Matthew 13:1-23.
God calls us to sow the seeds of love, hope, peace, and holiness, wherever we are. God called Jeremiah to be the prophet of Israel to lead them closer to God.
We continue to sow the Word of God no matter the response given by the soil. Listening to the Word is indeed a gift and it is given to us with the purpose of its extended fruition beyond on.
We encounter Jesus who sows the seeds of healing and hope even when His work was severely criticized. Jesus cured the person who cannot speak. The ordinary people praised His ministry while the educated leaders pounced upon Him. One group witnessed the presence of God, and the others noticed the presence of Satan in His healing. “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.” (Gal. 6:7). Condemnations cannot crush the spirit of compassion. Much more time and resources for condemnation than compassion in and around us. Our good works can be regarded with the spectacles of God or Satan.
All of us are gifted with something for the building and welfare of the common good.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” (Mt.9:38). There are limitless ministries, but the ministers are so limited. People who criticize the work of others do not come forward to extend a helping hand to make it better. “The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Cor.9:6). Let us continue to sow compassion with commitment, charity with purity, faith with hope, and peace with justice so as to be the instruments of God’s love to all people around.
It is time to be reminded of the words of St. Francis of Assisi: “Let us begin again, for up until now, we have done little or nothing.”
Rejection and suffering are the immediate response to every attempt we make in spreading the Good News. Jesus prepares the hearts of the disciples to be open in the event of opposition and resistance. Not everyone has a perfect mindset, and conditions to be fruitful. Some struggle and some others do not have the provisions to be fruitful, yet we continue sowing. May we always cooperate with God in sowing God’s Word.
The Gospel brings out a lot of insight into our personal life. The Word is captured and crushed by the evil and evil interactions, sometimes suffering suffocates the growth of the seed, and worries and allurement of the world suppresses the possibility of growth of the seed, the Word of God. The enemies of the Word are always around us, and in us as the worries come from inside. Even though the seed has the potential to bear fruit, we need to provide the conditions required for the seed to bear fruit.
May the Lord help us to adhere to His Word to be fruitful in all we say and do. God bless you.