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.”
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Reflection:
How can we become the seed that fell on
rich soil? We have to attend Holy Mass as often as possible most especially on
Sundays, we have to read the bible, we have to be prayerful, we have to ask the
guidance of the Holy Spirit and we have to live our faith.
Many of us go off course and do not become
the seed that fell on rich soil for the simple reason that we don’t take
seriously our faith. We attend Holy Mass, we read the bible but we don’t
practice what we read and hear. We simply let it inside our ear and let it pass
on the other side of our ear.
What we have to do is to let what we hear
go down to our hearts afterwards we let it go up to our brains. Thus, we would
be able to live what we read and hear.
There is a story of a man who goes to Mass
every Sunday and who profess to be faithful to his wife. However, his wife
discovered that she was not the only woman in his life. Why did it happen that
he was not true to his profession of fidelity towards his wife? This is for the
reason that his faith was superficial and many of us are like this man: We have
superficial faith.
How could we transform this superficial
faith for it to become the seed which fell on rich soil and produced
hundredfold of fruits?
We have to be docile to the desire of the
Holy Spirit and that is to transform us to become a faithful follower of Jesus.
And this is very possible for the simple reason that nothing is impossible to
our God.
Is your faith in the Lord bearing fruit
already? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
