Sunday 15th week –A- Sower and Seeds
Last Sunday about Humility. Today about receptivity & Responsiveness.
Penitential Act
a) On the edge of our path, at the mercy of the
environment, your word has been carried away by the birds. Protect your word in
us from the disasters of circumstances and calamities: do not cast us off, but
lead us along your way.
b) Among the thorns, strangled by the attractions of
pleasure and power, your word has remained barren: do not abandon us Lord, but
lead us further on your way.
c) On the rocky ground, on the stony soil of our
carelessness, your word has withered for lack of roots: do not condemn us,
Lord, but lead us further on your way.
1) God won't ask what kind of fancy car you drove. He will ask how many people you took to church who didn't have transportation.
2) God won't ask the square footage of your house. He will ask how many people you helped who didn't have a house.
3) God won't ask how many fancy clothes you had in your closet. He will ask how many of those clothes you gave away to those who didn't have any.
4) God won't ask what social class you were in. He will ask what kind of "class" you displayed.
5) God won't ask how many material possessions you had. He will ask whether those material possessions dictated your life.
6) God won't ask what your highest salary was. He will ask if you trampled over any people to obtain that salary.
7) God won't ask how many promotions you received. He will ask what you did to promote others.
8) God won't ask how many degrees you had. He will ask how many people you thanked for helping you get those degrees.
9) God won't ask what your parents did to help you. He will ask what you did to help your parents.
10) God won't ask how many friends you had. He will ask how many people you were a friend to.
11) God won't ask what you did to protect your rights. He will ask what you did to protect the right of others.
12) God won't ask what neighborhood you lived in. He will ask what other neighborhoods you visited.
13) God won't ask about the color of your skin. He will ask about the color of your heart.
Homily Prayer:
Your eyes are on us, Lord, as we face you again this
evening/morning. May your word penetrate through our inner resistance. You, the
sower has been preparing us the soil for your sowing. Before we were able to
answer you, you were already calling us and longing to send us. Look upon the
unworthiness of our soil and deign to put on our lips the words that will make
clear how your power shines forth despite the smallness of our talent.
Intercessory Prayer:
God,
you continue to sow your field whether the sun warms our soil or night shelters
it in its shade. On the path of our lives your word, Lord, is sown widely,
generously. Lead us to the land of your grace, where our faith, touched at last
by your concern, will produce for the world a superabundant fruit, a fruit that
remains in eternal life.
Communion:
Father, we pray, that we, your workers, sow with generous hand the seed of an always unexpected harvest. Through your spirit heal our hearts of stone, that your seed may strike root in those who hear your word. Prune our vines that your fruit may ripen for a festive vintage. And let us be filled with joy in Jesus, the first fruits of a new world.
1) Think of John Harvard here. In 1637, he came to the American colonies from England. He was a promising scholar. The New World appeared to be his oyster. But the poor fellow upped and died after but one year. His will gave $3500 and 200 books to a fledgling university. The school became Harvard University. Today it staffs a faculty of 1000 and has a student body of 20,000. It enjoys an international reputation. (Barclay). Bequeath to your posterity …..
2) The story is the story of the fussy vegetarian. A young women was committed to being a vegetarian, but she was never satisfied with any of the fruit or vegetables she bought. For her, all melons were too ripe, or not ripe enough. In her eyes, she could never find tomatoes that weren’t bruised. Heads of cauliflower and broccoli were too big or too little. She was never happy.
3) Fr Murphy in the restaurant: TRY FAITH and $20 bill. "FAITH" came in first in the fourth race at the track yesterday, and she paid 30 to 1.
Then one day, driving down Tarpon Avenue, she drove past a new store with a
long line of people waiting to get in. She looked, and the sign said,
God’s Fruit and Vegetable Stand. “Finally,” she said, “I can get some
decent vegetables and fruit.” So she stood on line and waited. Hours went
by before she walked into that door. She was enveloped in light, but she
didn’t see any apples or oranges or tomatoes or cabbage, or anything to
buy. She walked to the light, and there was a counter there. And
behind the counter, there stood God. She could tell it was God because of
the light, and because he had an apron on with a big G on it. Anyway, she
placed her order, “I would like some perfect broccoli, and some perfect
carrots, some perfect tomatoes and a perfect melon. Also, if you have
perfect Brussel sprouts, that would really be a miracle.”
“Sorry,” God said, “I only sell seeds here.”
3) The image of the Word of God
as a seed is beautiful. A seed is something small, almost insignificant, but
inside it has an enormous power. In the last century we saw the power of a
seed. Some of us remember the sixties, when scientists were predicting massive
worldwide famine. They said that the famine would hit countries like India
worse. India's population had grown to 440 million and the experts agreed that
its land could not feed so many people. They concluded that the only thing the
world could do was to let India's surplus population starve.
There was, however, one man who saw things differently. His name was Norman Borlaug (Nobel Prize in 1970).
He went to India not with a shipload of food but with a seed called
"Sonora 64." Now, you can't blame people for being a little
sceptical. Here was an American agronomist with a wheat seed developed in
Mexico. But Borlaug convinced the authorities to give it a try. They planted
some Sonora 64 wheat in the Punjab region of India. The results were
spectacular and pretty soon they were using it throughout the subcontinent.
Later, they introduced a new variety of rice, called IR8, and it brought even better
results: Formerly a hectare (an area of 100 meters by 100 meters) could produce
about a ton of rice. With IR8 seed, a hectare - without fertilizer - yielded
five tons of rice and, under optimum conditions, ten tons. Thus IR8 seed
brought about a ten-fold increase in the rice harvest. These new seeds enabled
India and other countries to avert famine. Today with over a billion people,
India actually produces a food surplus.** Here we see the power of a seed.
We are to understand, of course, that the sower is God, the seed is the Kingdom, and the various types of soil represent us--you and me. On the surface of it, of course, it doesn't sound as though God is a very frugal farmer. After all, most of the seed that is strewn about never takes root. But this is not really a story about the sower or the seed. It is a story about different types of soil, or to put it another way, the responses of different types of people to the Kingdom.
The question is really, what is the state of our hearts when the seeds are sown
with us? With that in mind, let us examine the various conditions of the heart
mentioned in this story.
1. The Hardened Heart / Defeated Heart - immediately
2. The Distracted Heart -gradually
3. The disguised heart - ultimately
4. The Hopeful (and Joyful!) Heart
Loss:
a) immediate
b) gradual
c) Ultimate
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An
Indian proverb states, “All of the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the
seeds of today.”
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A Generous Sower
When we look at living beings in nature,
plants and animals of all kinds, we see how much seed is generously sown. There
is plenty of it, and yet few spring up and reproduce fruit. The Lord himself
keeps sowing his word among us as an invitation, a call, a challenge. But do we
even let it take root? What is the crop we let it reproduce? God is generous
with his word but are we generous with our response? Let Jesus today speak his
word to us, let us welcome it with warmth, let it take root in us and grow and
yield a rich and beautiful harvest.
The seed is the Word of God, and the good
soil is the heart and mind of the person who is disposed to accepting that
Word. Soil needs to be plowed before the seed is sown, and so too do our hearts
and minds need to be opened up before the Word of God can take root within us.
The daily discipline of reading the Word of God and praying over it is a most
excellent way of preparing the soil for God's Word to take root. With an open
heart and mind, there is nothing preventing God's Word from producing within
you even a hundredfold!