the parable of the sower

Today's Reflections

 

                               

 

     

The Parable of the Sower 

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Mt 13:1-9

¹[One] day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. ²Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. ³And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, ⁶and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. ⁷Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. ⁸But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. ⁹Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Reflection:

Whoever has ears ought to hear. With these words of exhortation, Jesus ends his parable of the weeds. We have bodily ears. Our minds also have ears, and, above all, our hearts have ears. (Note that in the middle of the word “heart” is “ear.”)

When we listen to the word of God, it is not enough that we hear the sounds without understanding. It is not even enough to hear with the mind and understand the meaning of the word. We have to listen with our heart, for Jesus speaks to us not only from his lips or from his mind but from his heart. And it is to our hearts that God wants to speak (cf Hos 2:16).

We can listen with our heart only if the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and makes us hear interiorly what the word says exteriorly.

Pray to the Holy Spirit

before you read the Bible.