Reflection for January 29 Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time: Mark 4:1-20

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 we become the seed that fell on rich soil? We must attend Holy Mass as often as possible, especially on Sundays. We must read the Bible, be prayerful, seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and live our faith.

Many of us go off course and fail to become the seed that fell on rich soil simply because we do not take our faith seriously. We attend Holy Mass and read the Bible, but we do not practice what we read and hear. We let it enter one ear and pass out the other.

What we must do is allow what we hear to enter our hearts, then let it rise to our minds. By doing so, we will be able to live out what we read and hear.

There is a story of a man who attends Mass every Sunday and professes to be faithful to his wife. However, his wife later discovers that she is not the only woman in his life. Why did he fail to uphold his profession of fidelity? Because his faith was superficial. Many of us are like this man—we have superficial faith.

How can we transform this superficial faith so that it becomes the seed that falls on rich soil and bears a hundredfold of fruit? We must be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who desires to transform us into faithful followers of Jesus. And this is entirely possible because nothing is impossible for our God.

Is your faith in the Lord already bearing fruit? —Marino J. Dasmarinas