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:
Do you want to grow in faith?
Sometimes we may wonder why others do not grow in faith yet others grow
in faith? The secret for those who grow in faith is the time that they invest
with God. For example if we would have a solemn daily prayer life we would be
assured that God would look kindly upon us and He will give us the gift of
faith.
We have in our gospel the parable of the sower who is no other than God.
He sows the seeds of faith in our hearts but not everyone of us are able to
grow and deeply nurture the seeds of faith that He sows. For the reason that we
lack time for God but the paradox is we have time for this world and we even
create time for this world. But do we have time for God? Do we create time for
God?
Faith is a gift from God but at the same time we have to open and use
this gift of faith we should not take it for granted. Otherwise this gift will
not blossom, grow and have deep roots within us. Perhaps this is one of the
reasons why our faith don’t blossom because we take it for granted.
When are we going to get serious with our faith in God? When are we going
to live our faith? So that it could finally blossom and bear abundant fruit?
When we are already sickly and near the cliff of death? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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