7/28/2023 (Friday) Today’s gospel reading: Matthew 13:18-23

Jesus said to his disciples:
18 “Hear the parable of the sower.
19 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.
20 The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
21 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.
22 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.
23 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 thirty-fold.”

7/28/2023 (Friday) Today’s gospel reflection: Matthew 13:18-23

It is often said that we have two ears so that we can hear better and understand better what we hear. Some people however use only one ear to hear and what they hear goes out of the other ear. They go to church, listen to the word of God but as soon as they leave the church, they forget everything that they heard. Then they ask, why do we have to go to church often? Why does the priest or pastor keep on repeating the same sermon?

Jesus explains the kinds of people who receives the Word of God. We can be any of the kinds of soil. We can be the hardened soil, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, or the good soil. Let us desire to be the good soil, always striving to live the Word of God. Let us never get tired of listening to the word of salvation. Perhaps the Holy Spirit has inspired the priest or pastor to keep on repeating the same sermon for our own sake. Maybe we needed to listen again and again to the same sermon so that we will not forget. Just like taking the same medicine every day until the sickness is healed.

Let us make it a habit to listen and understand the Word of God, no matter how boring it is. It is actually new and refreshing every morning, noon and evening. We don’t stop eating or else we die of starvation, right? The Word of God is the food of our soul. We starve and die if we stop eating. Our soul will become weary, wither and die too if it is not nourished by the bread of life.

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