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Message of the Day
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Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It
leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward.
- Thomas Merton
(How will you be
more loving today?)
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Readings of the Day
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2 Sm 7:4-17; PS 89:4-5, 27-28,
29-30
Mk 4:1-20
On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
A very large crowd gathered around him
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat
down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables,
and in the course of his instruction he said to them,
"Hear this! A sower went out
to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the
soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
He added, "Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear."
And when he was alone,
those present along with the Twelve
questioned him about the parables.
He answered them,
"The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven."
Jesus said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is
sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once
with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are
another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no
fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a
hundredfold."
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.” —2 Samuel 7:17
David, like all of us, was very selfish. We’re that way from the moment of conception. We are naturally selfish. One day, a great blessing occurred in David’s life: he had an unselfish thought. He thought of building a house for the Lord (2 Sm 7:2). Although David was not chosen by the Lord to do this, the Lord took this moment of unselfishness to reveal to David an astounding prophecy. Through the prophet Nathan, the Lord told David that his house, kingdom, and
throne would stand firm forever (2 Sm 7:16).
Sometimes, by the grace of God and in our new life through Baptism, we too have unselfish thoughts. Like David, we will also receive amazing revelations from God when we cross over to the other side of selfishness. In that land of unselfishness — once so strange to us — we are no longer under the thick cloud of selfishness (see Is 60:2). On the other
side of selfishness, the Lord shines and over us appears His glory (Is 60:2). Come to Jesus; repent; deny yourself; cross over to the other side. Prayer: Father, the life I live now is not my own. It is a life of faith in Jesus (Gal 2:20). Promise: “Those sown on good soil are the ones who listen to the word, take it to heart, and yield at thirty- and sixty- and a hundredfold.” —Mk 4:20 Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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Readings from Jesus Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain. Ave Maria Press, 1985. Contemplative Ministries, Inc. 2011. Part Three, Gift of the Spirit Chapter 1: Overview - Selected quotes As cells in the Body of Christ, we each have a contribution to make unto growing and maintaining the life of the Body. To accomplish this, the Spirit blesses every individual with charisms, or spiritual gifts, to be used for the good of others. These gifts might be similar to what
we can do with our natural talents, but often they are not. Some people, for example, can’t really carry on a good conversation with others, but put them in a position to preach the Word of God and amazing things come from their lips! Through the exercising of spiritual charisms, we grow in the Spirit and we help to build up the Christian and human communities around the world. It seems to be the delight of the Spirit to move people to form communities and it seems to be our
joy as well to belong to a Spirit-filled community. As we all know, however, finding such a community is sometimes difficult; the local Christian parish or congregation is often little different from any other kind of secular gathering, and I think this grieves the Spirit greatly. We can grow in the Spirit and become more attuned to the Spirit’s direction and influence in our
lives. We can also learn to better identify and develop our spiritual gifts; we will address these possibilities in sessions to come. Finally, we can learn more about who the Spirit is and how She relates to Christ and the Father in the story of creation and redemption. That will be part of our study in the weeks ahead as well, and I think it can help us to come to a deeper love of God. As Frank Sheed once put it, the more we learn about God, the more reasons we have to
love God.
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