The Catholic Calendar for Saturday, September 17, 2005
Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary time
St. Robert Belarmine, bishop and doctor of the Church

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
1 Timothy 6:13-16
Psalm 100:2-5
Luke 8:4-15

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

How many times have we heard this Gospel about the sower and the seed? I dare say that there were times in our lives when we took it deeply to heart, pondered it, let it sink deep into our souls, and even experienced a change in our lifestyle because of it. Perhaps it was a sermon on forgiveness that we heard, or an exhortation to listen to God calling us to evangelize. Perhaps we listened from a hospital bed or while grieving for a dear loved one.

There are two ways of looking at this parable--one is to examine the nature and quality of the seed itself, and the second (which is the focus of Jesus' parable) is from the condition of the soil on which the seed falls. Let's take a look at the first point-of-view.

Jesus' words are always potentially life-giving. After all, we're told that Scripture is a "two-edged sword". And we're also told that all of Scripture is useful for instruction and spiritual growth. Why, then, don't we leave our "hearers" filled with energy and resolve to act on what we have heard? Perhaps because the preacher was ill-prepared, or boring. Perhaps the sound system was faulty, or there were babies crying loudly. Even in these circumstances, we can offer a silent prayer that the Lord will let us take just one thought away with us. Or perhaps we can pray for the preacher that God will inspire him with greater enthusiasm and holiness. Perhaps his bishop will offer him a refresher course in preaching! Through faith and good will, we can always take something with us from the Word of God.

From the second point-of-view, let's make sure that we are awake, alert, and well-disposed through prayer, humility, and love, to be "good soil" for the Word that we hear. When we say a prayer to the Holy Spirit, He will always fertilize our soil.

- Msgr. Paul Whitmore
(smartins@frontiernet.net)