PRI Reflections on Scripture | Wednesday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time

Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

Choose either the video or audio below.

Gospel

Matthew 13:1-9

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.

Some 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.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Reflection

Jesus has always been talking about a relationship that we will have once we are redeemed. And the relationship that we have with him, once that redemption takes place, is that we have this connection with him, that we are able to receive the gift of grace, the gift of his presence dwelling within us. But it's a process. And what this parable talks about is that there's a way in which the mystery of who God is never, ever dawns on us.

We're so wrapped up in our own world that this mysterious spiritual world means nothing to us. And sometimes it's just that we are not really working with it when it is revealed to us, and we resist it, or other things get in our head and we get distracted. And all of it points to the fact that the gift of God's redemption is we become rich soil, open, able to receive a seed that tells us in words first and then in an experience that we are loved.

We are his chosen ones.

Closing Prayer

Father, your grace is our openness to you. Keep us open to everything that you long to show us in our daily lives. Sign after sign you're giving us. Help us to be attentive. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Kyle Cross