Daily
Thoughts:
I have often used the parable of the Sower and the Seed that we find in today
Gospel in my mission preaching. And even though Jesus explains it to his
disciples I usually use a different interpretation. Jesus talks about the
different kinds of soil in the parable as being different kinds of people
however I often use the different kinds of soil to represent different
conditions of our hearts.
If
we say that Jesus is the sower and our hearts are the field, then as Jesus
sowers the seed his word, his grace, his blessing, his hope, his love in our
life the seed encounter four different kinds of soil. Three of which do not
allow the seed to grow and one of which does. In other words, perhaps our
parable today asks us to look into our own hearts to see what might not allow
God’s grace, God’s blessing, God’s hope or God’s love to grow within us.
It
might be the hardness of the foot path. The place of our heart that have been
hurt, stepped on by the struggles of life. All of us have been hurt in life, by
words, actions, the lack of words or the lack of actions in life. When we are
hurt we harden so that we don’t get hurt again.
We
might have some rock, stones, pebbles or boulders in our hearts that take up
room and don’t allow the seed to grow. Rocks and boulders you ask? Our
sinfulness, our faults and failings, our character defects, the sins in our
life that take up space in our hearts and do not allow anything to grow with in
that place of our hearts.
Then
there are the weeds and thorns, the stuff of life, sometimes good stuff that is
over grown and chokes of whatever God plants. The things of life that often
become more important than our relationship with God. Sometimes good things
that become gods and choke off the grace, the blessing, the hope and the love
that God offers us as a gift.
We
want our hearts to be all good soil. Soil ready and willing to accept whatever
God plants so that it will grow and produce fruit a hundredfold! Why not take
some time today and look into your heart. What is not allowing the grace of God
to be planted, take root and grow within you? What places in your heart need a
little word so that they become good soil?
Have
a great Saturday everyone!
Daily
Prayer:
O
God, seek us, O God, find us
In
your patient care;
Be
your love before, behind us,
Round
us, everywhere:
Lest
the god of this world blind us,
Lest
he speak us fair,
Lest
he forge a chain to bind us,
Lest
he bait a snare,
Turn
not from us, call to mind us,
Find,
embrace us, bear;
Be
your love before, behind us,
Round
us, everywhere. Amen!
(Adapted
from a prayer by Christina Rossetti)
A
Runner’s Thoughts: “Running transported him, taking his mind to another
place, very deep within. Like prayer.” (Richard Christian Matheson, "Third
Wind") Will be dare to let running and prayer take us to another place
deep within ourselves today?
Daily
Blessing:
Happy Saturday and blessings of rest and peace to all today! I hope your day
has started off well. I am sitting in the Cormaria Retreat House getting ready
to give the first conference of the day to a group of women. Yesterday was a
rather long day. I did not get to Sag Harbor until 7:55 pm so I was on time for
8 pm mass to open the retreat. We had taped 6 masses early in the day so you
might say by 9 pm I was “massed out.” But today is a new day and it is a
beautiful one here in Sag Harbor and I am looking forward to the gifts that it will
bring. Please keep the women on retreat in your prayers and if you could
remember their preacher it would be appreciated.
I
would ask your special prayers for my niece and grandniece they had a little
accident in which they both fell the other day and had to spend the night in
the hospital. All seems to be well and they have returned home but a few extra prayers
for them, especially for my niece “the mom” would be greatly appreciated!
My
prayer of blessing for all of you today is that God will bless all your
endeavors, your encounters, your times of solitude, your moments of busyness
and your times of rest today. May this day be what you need it to be. May it be
a gift from God that enables you to find the present of God in your life,
especially within yourself! Have a great Saturday and don’t forget to give a
little time to God this weekend. Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
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