Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are reminded to sow the seeds of faith within us, the seeds that the Lord has given and sown in us through His Word. Through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, all of us have received the Word of God’s salvation, His truth and Good News, manifested before us. He is the Sower, Who has sown the good seeds within each and every one of us, in this fertile field that is this world. All of us who have heeded His call and received His truth and Good News should endeavour and do our best to make this faith within us to grow and to prosper so that everyone who knows us and all those who witness our works and actions, interacting and dealing with us will come to know that we truly belong to God, and know Him through the fruits of our faith, richly shown and grown from our fertile selves.
In our first reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the Lord speaking to His people through Isaiah, Who mentioned interestingly of how His Word would be sent into this world the way that rain and snow descend from the heavens to the earth, which was indeed a premonition and prefigurement of what was to come. The Word of God, the Divine Word and Son of God, one of the members of the Holy Trinity, was truly incarnate and made flesh, becoming the Son of Man, just as the Lord Himself predicted, coming into this world to fulfil His will, that is to bring about the full and complete reconciliation of all of God’s beloved people, all mankind, by bringing all of them close to Him through His adoption of our human nature, making His love to become tangible, accessible and approachable to us.
And truly His coming into this world has brought about a great change to all things, just as St. Paul poetically described it in our second reading today, in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome. The Apostle spoke of the coming of the salvation of God, which had been sent into our midst, and how through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, all of us have received the pledge and assurance of eternal life, if we keep our faith and trust in Him. Each and every one of us as Christians have received this truth and Good News from the Lord Himself, passed down through His Church, and in us we have received the wonderful words of grace and hope, and the promise of eternal life, although at the moment we may be facing a lot of hardships and struggles, challenges and trials in life, as we continue to live our lives in our world today.
That is why all of us should heed the words of the Lord Who reminded each and every one of us that all of us should indeed welcome the words of God’s truth and Good News into our hearts and minds, as all of us have been made to be the bearers of His words and truth, His teachings and His ways, the seeds of faith that He has sown in us. By His patient love and care, He has given us all the provisions to help us in our journey towards full and complete reconciliation with our loving God and Creator. He has sown in us the seeds of faith, on what is hopefully a fertile place where those seeds can grow well and strong, and became in us the foundation for the faith that is both vibrant and strong, enduring and lasting, and faith that inspires others all around us, which therefore becomes faith that is truly living, real and genuine within us, and not faith that is mere formality and dead.
This is where that famous parable of the sower can enlighten us, as we are reminded of what happened to the seeds that sower had sown, and fallen in different places. As the Lord Himself explained to His disciples, that the seeds that landed by the roadside are like those who heard the word of God and then allowed the devil and all the evil ones, represented by the birds that came to eat those seeds, to take the gift of faith and the words of God away from them. We also heard how those seeds that fell on the rocky and barren ground could not grow properly or have roots that support them well, and hence were the plants were scorched and killed, as a reminder that if we do not provide the good conditions in our lives, in our way of living and in our attitudes in life, then it may be rather difficult for us to grow in faith and commitment to God, and it may be difficult for us to remain firm in our path of righteousness and faith.
Then, we also heard of those seeds that fell in the midst of the brambles and thorns, the weeds that choked the life out of the germinating seedlings and plants. Those are indeed the temptations and the things present all around us which may cause us to be swayed and tempted into the wrong paths in life, where the faith and the truth of God’s Good News within us may not be strong enough for us to restrain ourselves and to resist those temptations. Only the seeds that fell on the rich and fertile soil managed to grow into healthy, great and fruitful plants, those that bore fruits thirty, sixty and even hundred-fold of what had been planted there. The Lord Himself told His disciples that this is what happens to all those who received the word of God, internalised and understood them, and allow the message of the truth and their faith to transform them, that they all grow magnificently in their lives with faith.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is why all of us are called and reminded to provide a good and fertile ‘soil’ for these seeds of faith, which means that we should do our very best to nurture in us a good and worthy attitude in life, disposition and focus, so that we may truly prioritise what is truly important in our lives, that is our faith in the Lord, Who should also be the main focus and emphasis of our every lives. Our actions, works and interactions should all be linked and focused on the Lord such that in our every words, deeds and actions, in all the things we say and do, we will always proclaim the glory of God and do things for His greater glory, and for the good of everyone, and not just for our own selfish desires and ambitions, unlike what many people all around the world tend to do. We must provide therefore this ‘fertile’ ground upon which our faith may grow and blossom, and we need to make the effort to do so.
That is why all of us should do our best to nurture our faith and our love for God, so that in each and every moments of our lives, we may come ever closer to the Lord and His truth, His compassionate love and salvation. All of us should always strive to be fruitful in our lives and faith, that by our every good works and actions, we may truly be faithful disciples and missionaries of our Christian faith, that through us, many more may come to be saved. May the Lord be with us always and may He help us and strengthen us in our path so that we may continue to bear richly the fruits of our faith. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 