Tuesday, July 20, 2004

1:15 am

The Catholic Calendar for Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Lawrence of Brindisi, doctor of the Church

Scripture from Wednesday's Liturgy of the Word:
Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10
Psalm 71:1-6, 15-17
Matthew 13:1-9

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

Part of God's Seed Finally Landed on Good Soil. . . (Matthew 13:8)

Today's readings remind us that life is a succession of people and events through which God attempts to impart His life to us and through us to others. Christ's parable shows this to be a difficult and often painful process, for sin-hardened, stony hearts and minds do not allow God's seeds of love and truth to take hold and become deeply rooted to bring forth a harvest of God's goodness.

If this is our state, God resorts to cultivating our ground with a plow that digs deeply into our hardened soil, overturning it. He pries out and discards the rocks and finally discs it to break up the clods into fine, porous soil able to receive His seed and allow water and fertilizer to permeate it to nourish His seed's growth. We know from Scripture and personal experience that God employs attention-getting and persuasive measures. He leaves no "stone" unturned in His efforts to guide us to salvation.

As in Jeremiah's case, our lack of trust in God causes our trying to escape His call, making excuses because we wrongly think that we alone must do the task to which He has called us. Jeremiah learned that God had chosen and prepared him from the womb to be imbued by His Spirit, to speak His life-giving words to His people. We will learn like Jeremiah that in God's service we are to be brave and unselfish, willing to suffer the world's hatred for His sake. People may kill our reputation or our body, but they cannot do harm to our immortal souls.

Father God,
break down all barriers
that prevent Your filling our hearts
with Your life.
Enable us to bring into this world
a harvest of Your light and Your love.
Amen.

- Marie Bocko, OCDS
(mlbocko at borg dot com)
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