The one who hears the words and understands it will bear much fruit.

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today we hear of the explanation of Jesus given for the parable of the Sower. This beautiful description helps us to live out our lives in a way that keeps us God-centered. At first, he talks about the person who, upon first hearing the word without understanding it. The Evil One will take away what is sown in his heart. What is it that is sown in his heart? It is the words of Jesus Christ, to love God and to love neighbor.  When we come to church and listen to the word of God through Scripture, we are called to attempt our best to discern what God is teaching us. The reading of scriptures often in our lives will help us to understand what God is attempting to plant into our hearts and lives. The study of scripture is vital in who we are as Christians.

Jesus goes on to talk about the seed that falls on rocky ground. At first, that person is joyful about the word of God, but lacks depth. Problems in life will take that person away from the love and service of God. This person makes other things more important than God and fails to understand that with God present in his life, he can overcome any problem and find peace in the presence of God in his life. In whatever trials we face in our life, we are to trust that God is present to us and will be able to give us that peace that can only come from Him.

Another obstacle that Jesus talks about is similar to the tribulations and persecutions that was previously spoken of: worldly anxiety and the lure of riches. We all have issues and problems that we face, and at times they seem to be insurmountable. Further, the lure of riches is a very tempting thing for us in this world. Making riches and wealth out to be more important than God removes him as the center of who we are. We are making “riches” to be an idol that replaces God in our lives.  As a result, our relationship with God cannot grow.

Finally, the Lord talks about the ‘rich soil”. We are called to attempt to be like the one who hears the word of God and attempts to live out our lives as children of God. It is then that we can yield that good harvest the Lord is talking about. The Good Harvest that Jesus is talking about is living a Christ and God Centered life, knowing that in whatever problems we may be facing, Jesus is always present to us to help us in all our needs. We just need to trust in His help during our times of need. Trusting is not always easy, but by doing so, we will feel Jesus working in our lives.

We may at various times of our lives be at different points of acceptance of God’s Word to us. When we fail to live up to being the “good soil” that Jesus talks about, we need to seek Him out and ask him to help us during our times of struggle. There will be times when our soil may be rocky. We just need to ask Jesus to clear out the “rocks” in our soil and give a soil that his clear and good that will help us in our growth towards getting closer to God in our relationship with Him and with others.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today we see once again how the Pharisees are more concerned with the “letter of the law” rather than the needs of the people. Yes, it’s true, according to the Law of Moses, the disciples were doing something that was against the law: they were doing what the Pharisees considered work by picking the heads of grain to eat them in their hunger. The Pharisees were unable to see beyond the law. The disciples were hungry and that was the greater need for them than to follow the law literally.

The Pharisees had no concern or mercy towards the disciples in their need. Rather they were ready to condemn them for breaking the law of no work on the Sabbath. We need to be careful not to fall into that same trap when we meet people that may not be living their lives the way we feel they should be living.

Jesus is calling us to show mercy to those we will encounter in our lives that may be struggling with issues or problems in their lives. We are not to be judgmental like the Pharisees. We will come across people, whether family or friends, that may not be living a life that we approve of. They may be struggling with some issues that we may not be aware of that cause them to do things that may seem to be contrary to the law as we understand it to be. Further, there are people today that are struggling just to make ends meet and are trying to feed themselves and their families. Jesus is calling us to not to judge them, but rather show them mercy, and if possible, to reach out to them in their need.

Jesus once summed up the Law as, “Love God with your whole mind heart and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31) If we follow these words of Jesus when encountering people, then we will showing the mercy that the Lord is talking about. Further, Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said “Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.” 

You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin | USCCB

Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not an easy thing to do. In our gospel today we hear of the problems we will face in being true to our call as followers of Jesus Christ. Some of the things our Lord is telling us in today’s gospel doesn’t sound appealing. It may even cause some to have 2^nd thoughts in their commitment to Jesus Christ.

Our Lord goes on to tell us that he is sending us out like “sheep in the midst of wolves…” Sounds scary to me, but our Lord encourages us to be as “shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” In other words, we have to be aware of our calling to follow Jesus, while at the same time live out our lives in the peace and love as His followers.

Jesus goes on to say that people will bring us to courts or have us scourged just for being His followers. This applies to our own time as well. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is counter to everything that is going on in our world. The Lord Jesus Christ, all throughout His ministry, has always taught us to love God and to love our neighbors. We are in a society that rejects God. Further, people today only love themselves. We’re living in a society that has become very much self-centered and hateful of anything that has to do with being obedient to the commandments of God. Love of God and love of neighbor seem to have no place today.

Our Lord goes on to predict that families will be at odds with each other just because we choose to be obedient to Jesus. This just doesn’t fit into what others in our family may think or believe. We are called to be examples of what it means to be a Christian to those in our families that may not understand our love and devotion to Jesus Christ.

In response to our society and those in our family who reject belief in God, we are called to be that example of what it means to be a true Christian and to be patient with those who will attack us for our beliefs. We are to not only surrender our lives to Jesus out of love for Him, but we are called to pray for those in our lives that reject Him and His love for them. That is how we are called to bring change into the world: through remaining faithful to our faith in Jesus Christ, and by praying for all those who are away from God’s love to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Jesus said to him, "Follow me."

 

Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today we hear the familiar story of Jesus’ calling St. Matthew from collecting taxes to that of being His follower. During the time our Lord walked among us, tax collectors were greatly hated by the Jewish people. Tax collectors used any means possible to collect taxes for the Roman government. To the Jewish people these were great sinners since they were turning away from the practice of their faith to that of service to the oppressive Roman government.

So, the Scribes and Pharisees were scandalized seeing that Jesus was eating and socializing with these public sinners. They couldn’t understand why someone like Jesus would be with such horrible people. The Scribes and Pharisees had already given up trying to convince these people to turn away from their sinful activity. Further, they were being hateful and judgmental towards these children of God. They felt that by their sinful activity, tax collectors and sinners had already condemned themselves in the eyes of God.

But Jesus knew better. By showing love, compassion and forgiveness towards these tax collectors and sinners, Jesus was showing them that they, too, can enter into relationship with God and get His forgiveness.

Jesus also is turning to each one of us and invites us to follow him as he did with Matthew. We are all sinners and are in need of the forgiveness and love of God. The Scribes and Pharisees weren’t able or willing to show love to anyone they considered rejected by God. We, for our part, need to know and understand that the love and forgiveness of God, as expressed by Jesus Christ, is for all people. We should approach God with open arms and open hearts asking God for forgiveness for the times when we fell short of loving Him and others as we should.

Further, we need to be able to see that God loves all those people in our lives that we feel aren’t as good as they should be. There are people that we know that may be far from God for whatever reason. Only God can judge their hearts. We just need to remember that God’s love and forgiveness is for all people, even the people that seem the most unlovable.

Let us always show mercy towards those who may be struggling in their relationship with God. Further, let us always seek out Jesus in our lives and ask him for His love and forgiveness to fill our hearts and lives.