Holyrood Church 715 West 179 Street, Upper West side Manhattan, USA, 212-923-3770

If this parable is a seed, how are you soil?

 

 

Reading: Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. Matthew 13:3.

 

Good morning, happy Wednesday, and many blessings my dear family.

 

In today’s Gospel (Matthew 13:1-9) Jesus and the disciples are on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus was teaching the people in the form of a parable.  He told his listeners the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds.  This is a very familiar parable to us.  However, this parable was new to His listeners.  They asked Jesus: “Why do you use stories when you teach the people”?  

 

To tell a parable like this, Jesus must have spent much time observing, noticing, and reflecting on simple events. The truth of how God is was revealed in how God works. Thinking of what you like to notice and reflect on, what speaks to you about the way God is at work in your life?

 

If this parable is a seed, how are you soil? What is it that helps you to receive the Word of God as nourishment? Adverse conditions abound: the birds of anxiety; the thin soil of busyness; the thorns of many concerns. What threatens your happiness? What creates good soil for you?

Now pause a moment and think back to your childhood.  What was your favorite story when you were young?  What was it about the story that captured your imagination?  Most stories have a message.  What was the message you learned from your favorite story? 

 

Today I invite you to sit and ponder the personal story that Jesus is telling you in this Gospel reading.  He has a specific message for you today.  It may be about your weeds.  However, it also may be a loving and tender message.   Sit quietly for a time and allow your message from Jesus to emerge from the silence. 

 

This is certainly the parable for the optimists. However, much seed fell elsewhere, the sower would make sure that most of the seed would fall on good ground. Even the poorest yield is thirtyfold! In the Gospel Jesus very often uses the metaphor of the seed to describe the Kingdom and its innate energy. Do I share his optimism, or am I a prophet of doom about the future of the Kingdom in our world?

 

The different kinds of ground on which the seed falls represent the different ways in which the word of God is received. The degree of receptivity depends on the individual person and the particular circumstances of his or her life. I look at my heart and see that some parts of my heart are more open to the word of God, others find it more difficult. I follow Jesus’ advice, and listen to what this parable is telling me.

 

Be expectant!  The message that you receive will be for you alone.  Cherish Jesus’ presence with you.  Open your heart to His love for you.  Enjoy being in Jesus’ presence, in the presence of pure love.  For what more could we ask?

 

Blessings,

 

Fr. Luis+

Date news: 
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 - 10:00

Ministry at the time of Coronavirus (Covid 19): Prevent, cure and accompany

Now we have to shape what some have started calling; The Church at Home. Although I keep asking myself; What do those who do not have a home do? For this reason, at the same time, I am declaring today in our Holyrood Church a Lenten day of prayer, fasting and reading the Bible in the Time of the Coronavirus.

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