Dear friends,
In today’s readings, God makes a very strong declaration about the effects of his word in everyone who embraces it. It will always have transformative effects on the people who receive it. However, we must realize here that this word of God is precisely a person: Jesus Christ who came to us and who calls us to open our hearts to God’s grace.
Usually, the interpretation of the parable of the sower sees the world as the field and the people as the different kinds of soil that receive the word of God. Today I would like to approach the parable from a different angle. Imagine one moment that the human person would rather be representing the field, and the different kinds of soil as the multiple aspects and situations revealing the ways we deal with the Word of God. In other words, I would invite everyone to think of the entire field as representing just an individual. Or just say, individually I am the entire field, not just the soil.
As a matter of fact, if we see ourselves as the field, we realize that sometimes we are closed to God’s word; sometimes we get very enthusiastic, but our enthusiasm has no depth; sometimes else our lives are so overwhelmed with things we have to do or we want to do, that we have no time left for God. Sometimes also my heart is like the rich soil, and I take God’s word in and serve him genuinely and faithfully.
Now, we can try to figure out how many sides we can find in ourselves when faced with the challenge of responding to God’s call amidst different life situations. Looking at the parable that way, we can discover in ourselves hardened paths, stony ground and weeds, but we see also good soil. And we are aware that we have the freedom to determine how well God’s word will take root in us by changing what we can in our lives in order to make sure there is more good soil in our heart and mind for the seed of God’s word to fall upon. Like in the first reading, God tells us that embracing Christ should and will always transform us. We accept Christ to let ourselves be transformed in His likeness, not to remain the same. He said, “no one pours new wine into old wineskins.”
As we pray today, let us ask God to help us see where in our lives God’s grace is having a hard time taking root. Let us allow God to water the dry soil, to pull weeds that chock good grains in us, and to transform the rocky soil to a more fertile soil able to receive Christ and to bear fruits that last; fruits of charity, solidarity, love and unity. And let us continue to pray for one another and for our parish family.
Fr. Emery