July 16, 2017

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time A Isaiah 55: 10-11; Romans 8: 18-23; Matthew 13: 1-23 Did you ever ask yourself, What am I hungry for from God? What can God help me with? Does God support me when I’m trying to lose weight or something like that or is He just concerned with religious things? How active do I let God be in my life? Do I let God be loving and caring or do I feel I’m not that important with all the needy and impoverished in the world? Do I want to pay attention to God only when I want or when it is convenient or do I feel that God always has a message for me? Do I seem to come across with the attitude that God is waiting for me and when I’m available I will respond? Matthew was having a problem with his community: some were rejecting the message of Jesus and others were accepting His message. He goes back to the time that Jesus compared this situation to Isaiah’s. God had told Isaiah that the very people who needed God’s words would reject them. Isaiah was told this when he received God’s call as prophet. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’ ‘Here I am;’ I said; ‘send me!’ And He replied: Go and say to the people: Listen carefully, but you shall not understand! Look intently, but you shall know nothing! You are to make the heart of this people sluggish, to dull their ears and close their eyes; Else their eyes will see, their ears hear, their hearts understand and they will turn and be healed. ‘How long, O Lord? I asked. And He replied: Until the cities are desolate, without inhabitants, houses, without a man, and the earth is a desolate waste…” (Isaiah 6: 8-10). In Matthew’s community there was a conflict with those Jews who accepted Jesus and His teaching (the Jewish Christians), and those Jews who rejected it. For a variety of reasons people had hardened their hearts and the Gospel of Jesus could not penetrate them. Jesus was a storyteller and used images that were familiar to His audience. Their methods of farming were very different from today. The first-century farmer scattered the seeds on the ground first and then turned over the soil. Since the seed rested on top of the ground for a while before the farmer was able to plow, the wind could blow it to an area where the farmer had not intended. That is why it landed on the foot path or on rocky ground or among the thorns. What Jesus does is not to concentrate on the type of seeds but on the soil. The soil on the worn down path resists all aspects of the seed. Matthew is comparing these to the scribes and Pharisees who refuse to understand or even listen. The soil on rocky ground accepts the seed but when hardships come it rejects the seed as is evident in the disciples that just couldn't stick it out with Jesus. The thorny soil lets the seed take root but quickly gets all tangled up and bears no fruit; here Matthew is referring to Herod, Pilate. Finally the soil that allows the seed to grow and bears much fruit describes the faithful followers of Jesus. Probably many of us have gone through most of these soil types. At times our soil was rocky. We heard God’s word but we didn’t allow it to take root. Letting the seed take root means letting the Gospel message make a difference in a person’s life. It means living out one’s commitment to Jesus. How do we do this? By responding in living the Corporal works of Mercy which Jesus describes in Matthew 25: 34-46, “Then the king will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, a stranger and you welcomed Me, naked and you clothed Me, ill and you cared for Me, in prison and you visited me’” So does the Gospel of Jesus make a difference in my life? Do I let worldly cares like fame, power, money, possessions, pleasure, become the center of my life? Do I believe in Jesus and what He said but I just don't take the time to reflect or check out Scriptures and learn how to love Jesus? Or is God rooted in my life? How the seed grows depends on its type of soil. How God’s word grows in me is how willing and receptive I am to God. What each of us needs to remember is that God entrusts to each person the responsibility for her or his own part in relationship with God. Is the future gloomy; No! As Isaiah states God's word must and will achieve its intended purpose. Isaiah 55: 10-11, “For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return here till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” The task that Jesus puts in front of us in the Gospel is to realize that we can find God in all things at every moment. To do this we must take time to reflect on our experiences and discern what God is showing us and how He is leading us. St. Ignatius of Loyola encouraged The Examen, his five step prayer for awareness. 1) Pray for God’s help. Prayer is a dialogue with God. So invite God to be with you during this time. Ask God to help you be grateful and honest as you look back on your day. 2) Give thanks for the gifts of this day. For St. Ignatius, gratitude is the most important step on the spiritual journey. So I review the day and name the blessings from the obvious to the ordinary. God helped me in each moment. 3) Pray over the significant feelings that surface as you replay the day. You may have some very strong feelings that may be painful or pleasing. These can tell you about the direction of your life this day. Ask God to help you understand these. 4) Rejoice and seek forgiveness. Be grateful for the times you were brought close to God and ask forgiveness for those times today when you resisted God’s presence. 5) Look to tomorrow. God is with us today…while we sleep…and with us tomorrow. Invite God to be a part of our future. What do I need God’s help with…and be very practical….Ask God for the help we need. Let God love us. So I reflect on: • What are the thorns in my life that try to choke the sprouting seeds of virtue? • Can I see God’s grace active in my life? What examples come to mind? • How do I till the soil of my heart to let God’s seed grown within me? Sacred Space 2017 states: “The different kinds of ground on which the seed falls represent the different ways in which we receive God’s word. The degree of receptivity depends on the individual and the particular circumstances of his or her life. The parable provides hope and encouragement, in that the sower succeeds ultimately in producing a crop from the seed that fell on good soil. Such crowds gathered to see and hear Jesus that He had to preach from a boat. They were hungry for spiritual nourishment and for leadership. Lord Jesus, I pray for the church and for all believers today. Make of us a community of disciples, all seeking you.”