A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to 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.”
REFLECTION: I once heard that hardest substance on earth, is not diamond or steel, or titanium, it is the human heart. NOT EVEN God can penetrate it, unless, we allow Him to do so. And worst, the hardness of our hearts is so tough, that we cannot fix it, by ourselves.
With that thought in mind; What is the state of your heart?
The famous Parable of the Sower, which Jesus tells us today, through Mark’s Gospel, it is not a story about agriculture—it is a story, about the openness, interest, accessibility, receptiveness of our hearts. In this famous parable, the seed is the Word of God, and the soil/path is our heart—which can be hardened. It can be rocky—that’s a shallow heart. It can be full of thorns—that’s a distracted heart. Or it can be good—a heart that hears, understands, and therefore, is able to bear fruit.
Earlier I asked you; What is the state of your heart? But Jesus is asking us today; What is the condition of our soil? Are we allowing, worldly anxieties, to choke out the Word, or are we intentionally, cultivating a fertile ground?
Our faith journey is a path to our salvation. It is a journey, in which we must constantly cultivate our ground, and make it fertile, by becoming docile to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to break up the rocks of stubbornness and pull the weeds of distraction. By spending time in prayer, frequently reading Scripture, and embracing the sacraments, we prepare the soil to be receptive. When we do this, the seed of the Gospel will take root, and through patient perseverance, we may bear fruit in our lives—in abundance.
Today, the Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church. St. Thomas was one of the greatest theologians in history, yet his life was a testament, to becoming “good soil.”
At the age of nineteen, Thomas received the Dominican habit, at Naples, where he was studying. Apprehended by his brothers on his way to Paris, he suffered two years of captivity, in their castle of Rocca-Secca; but neither the loving care of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and tricks of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation. While Thomas was in imprisonment at Rocca-Secca, his brothers attempted to deceive him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph, of his purity.
St. Thomas understood, that knowing about God, is not the same, as letting God take root in the heart. He taught, that for the seed of faith to grow, we must cultivate our intellect and our will. He famously said; “Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do”. The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings, as a treasure-house of sacred doctrine; while in naming him the Angelic Doctor, the Church has indicated that his science is more divine than human.
ACTION FOR THE DAY: As we reflect on the Sower, and look to St. Thomas Aquinas, we are called, to move beyond a superficial faith—Break up the hard ground, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and defenses that stop the Word from penetrating our hearts—to Deepen our roots, like Aquinas, we must study our faith, not just in times of comfort, but especially during “trials” or “persecution”—and Pull the thorns that distracts us; anxieties, wealth, or negative desires—and weed them out, to allow the Word bear fruit, abundantly.
AUDIO REFLECTION:
