The WORD today reminds me that it is my decision if I will accept God or not.
God created everything and he is all powerful. He has power over the weather and the circumstances in life. He allows things to happen, and prevents things from happening to protect his people. However, there is only one thing he does not have control over – our free will. God loves us so much that he gave us free will to decide what we want to do, how we want to live, what we want to happen.
You decide if you will accept God or not.
In the gospel, we see that the sower went out to sow. He put out the same seeds to different kinds of soil. It was the same sower, and the same kind of seed. What was different was the kind of soil that received the seeds. This produced different results on the seed. The readiness and receptiveness of the soil determines what will happen to the seeds.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower.
In the first reading, we see that God's word will accomplish its goal. The purpose for which it was sent. It is ready, but it is still up to us how we will receive it. What we will do with it. If we are ready and will accept him, or if we would rather focus on other things.
We all have the same bible. We all have the same God. We all experience the great, unconditional and forgiving love of God through Jesus. However, we receive it differently. Some chose to prioritize worldly riches over spiritual ones, some allow stress and problems overwhelm us and take the focus away from God, some allow the devil to take away what God gave us, while some keep everything in their hearts and lives and allow God’s seeds of love to bear fruit in their lives.
May we be challenged and inspired by the fact that God gave us all his love, his word, his blessings and protection. May we prepare our hearts to receive him and allow him to bear fruit through us.
Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another Sunday. Thank you for another chance to love and serve you. Thank you for all the blessings you have been continuously giving me. Sorry for the times I let the world or the devil take your word away from my heart. Sorry for the times I worry too much or focus too much on worldly things that I keep you in the background. Help me prepare my heart to receive you Lord. Help me be good soil, that your word in my life may take effect. May I be able to absorb it, give it its due importance, and allow you to bear fruit through me. Amen
Blessed Sunday!
In Christ,
-g-
July 12, 2020
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time; St. John Gaulbert
FIRST READING
Isaiah 55:10–11
Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 65:10, 11, 12–13, 14 (Luke 8:8)
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
You have visited the land and watered it; greatly have you enriched it. God’s watercourses are filled; you have prepared the grain.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods, softening it with showers, blessing its yield.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
You have crowned the year with your bounty, and your paths overflow with a rich harvest; the untilled meadows overflow with it, and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
The fields are garmented with flocks and the valleys blanketed with grain. They shout and sing for joy.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
SECOND READING
Romans 8:18–23
Brothers and sisters:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
ALLELUIA
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower. All who come to him will have life forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL
Longer Form Matthew 13:1–23
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see, and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them.
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
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