Gospel (Lk 8:4-15)

And when a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, Jesus said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

Commentary

Every day Jesus goes out to sow, in search of each one of us. He wants his words to enter deeply into our hearts, our lives. So that his Life may come to birth there, so that we can live his Life.

His word always bears fruit if it falls on good ground, on ground willing to receive it, to let it germinate and grow.

With what disposition do we welcome it? What kind of terrain is my heart?

Sometimes we are like the trodden path, with a hardened heart, when we let ourselves be carried along by monotony, when we get used to God and those around us. When we see others with our eyes, but are unable to discover the divine beauty in them.

Other times we have a stony heart, a superficial heart that lets itself be carried away by resentments, by critical judgments, by grudges, unable to see beyond our own selfishness, pointing out flaws in everything and everyone.

And other times we are like the field filled with thorns, a heart filled with vainglory, pride, trusting in itself.

Then, little by little, we lose the joy, the smile that is born from God.

Today we can ask our Lord to help us to be eager to be good terrain – that on seeing our hardened heart, the stones and thorns in our life, He may cleanse it completely and sow his seed abundantly there.