Gospel: Mark 4:1-20
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 you become the seed that fell on rich soil? You have to attend
Holy Mass as often as possible most especially on Sundays, you have to be
prayerful, you have to ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit and you have to live
your 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 ears 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 is
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. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
