by Fr Francis Anthony
Isaiah 55:10-11
Psalm 64:10-14
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-23
Theme: Receptive Hearts
We are practically halfway through the Green Sundays. Today we are in the 15th. We have a total of 33 and today’s big theme that is hidden in the Opening Antiphon and in the prayer is one of Hope and that is what is highlighted in the Gospel text of The Sower. Hope but the hope will grow the way we respond and the prayer that we had today, the opening prayer it goes this way:
O God who showed the light of your truth
God is fair to all. He shows the light of His truth. It is not hidden. It shows it through various ways through the readings in the scriptures, through our prayer life, through our meetings with people, through all the various events that take place. God is challenging us with His truth and so that we wouldn’t go astray.
That is God’s love. He is not saying you have gone astray, finish with you. I am going to take a new set of people. He is reaching out to us and He is wanting us to respond to Him. And this is shown by a different way from Prophet Isaiah and he gives an example, very pertinent to all of us and we know though we might not be farmers but we have small gardens around the house and we see the necessity of watering.
The farmers out anywhere see the necessity of rain. And the text goes:-
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, they do not return without watering the earth and giving growth and giving food for the people.
Yes, that is the plan of God because of His care for us. And it goes further and it says:
He provide so that the word goes from my mouth does not return to me empty.
God is reaching out. Just as the water nourishes the ground and gives growth, likewise God is reaching out to us through the various circumstances we are in. Let us not think God is reaching out to us only when we are in a monastery or in the church hearing the word of God. He uses every circumstances to tell us what we have to be to walk in the right path. And this is seen very beautifully captured by the simple parable of The Sower.
Yes, he sows the seed. It is the same power in all those seeds. But the growth of the seed is going to depend on the soil, where it falls. On the pathway, the birds eat them up. On rocky ground, they can’t take root to flourish. On thorny bush and for us it will be lalang, they are choked. And on good soil.
We ask ourselves. We have gone so many Sundays hearing the word of God and we are very confident your presence here is an indication that you want to be with God. And we are very fortunate in this country where all the people in one way or another are believers. Leave alone what is the religion.
On Fridays, you see something very sacred. It is a big prayer day for the Muslims. On Tuesday evenings and Friday evenings, it would be not community prayer, individual prayer for the Hindus and many make the effort to go to the temples. And on occasions, we have our Buddhist and Taoist praying. All of us somehow they have come to realize we are not the end of all. There is somebody who is above us leading us, guiding us.
We as Christians and Catholics, we are privilege to have this word of God read to us. It is God speaking directly. And let us go back home today asking a question:
What is God telling me through this parable of The Sower?
Am I producing the gift of God to be able to live my faith life or am I squandering all the opportunities God is giving me and not growing in faith?
Click below to listen to homily and watch video:-
Click to live-stream Mass on 16 July 2023