July 13, 2014
Sunday 15th Sunday
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Is 55:10-11
2nd Reading: Rom 8:18-23
Gospel: Mt 13:1-23 (or Mt 13:1-9)
Jesus left the house and sat down by the lakeside. As many people gathered around him, he got in a boat. There he sat while the whole crowd stood on the shore, and he spoke to them in parables about many things.
Jesus said, “The sower went out to sow and, as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where there was little soil, and the seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was not deep. But as soon the sun rose the plants were scorched and withered because they had no roots. Again other seeds fell among thistles; and the thistles grew and choked the plants. Still other seeds fell on good soil and produced a crop; some produced a hundredfold, others sixty and others thirty. If you have ears, then hear!”
Then his disciples came to him with the question, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Jesus answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but not to these people. For the one who has, will be given more and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived of even what he has. That is why I speak to them in parables, because they look and do not see; they hear, but they do not listen or understand. (…)
Now listen to the parable of the sower. When a person hears the message of the Kingdom but without taking it to himself, the devil comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed that fell along the footpath. The seed that fell on rocky ground stands for the one who hears the word and accepts it at once with joy. But such a person has no roots. No sooner is he harassed or persecuted because of the word, then he gives up.
The seed that fell among the thistles is the one who hears the word, but then the worries of this life and the love of money choke the word, and it does not bear fruit.
As for the seed that fell on good soil it is the one who hears the word and understands it; this bears fruit and produces a hundred, or sixty, or thirty times more.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
If we persevere in sowing good seeds, one day some of these will fall on good soil. Sometimes we feel that the good we do seem to be a drop disappearing in an ocean of evil. Why is there so much evil in the world? St. Pope John Paul II explained in his “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” that it is because God cannot violate man when he insists on his freedom. But we should not lose hope. In the end God’s grace will triumph. —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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