Following yesterday’s reflection on death and new life in Christ; St Paul through the grace of our Lord and the Holy Spirit gives us a wonderful, keen insight on how and what it will be like for us in our resurrected form. Just as how it is like for him and all the saints in Heaven. And by our faith we know this to be true for through our baptism the Holy Spirit has awakened in us the new birth of life in Him. We no longer see just with our eyes or hear just with our ears. And the peace, love and joy that we have comes not from this world but through our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
So today the question for us is, are we then living in the Spirit that has been outpoured in us? How can we say that we are, if we do not spend time daily reflecting on His Word for us? If we do not cherish His Word by living it out daily in our lives? If we do not constantly struggle and fight to resist all evil and temptation? If the gifts we have been given are not used for the good of others?
For if we are living in the Spirit as we should then we will see the gifts we had been given bear fruit. For others will see and experience the joy of our Lord through the work of our hands. We will always discover new and wonderful gifts we can use for His glory. Our reward is simply the joy of living in the Spirit in His presence. Amen!
First reading
1 Corinthians 15:35-37,42-49 ·
The resurrected body is heavenly by nature
Someone may ask, ‘How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come back?’ They are stupid questions. Whatever you sow in the ground has to die before it is given new life and the thing that you sow is not what is going to come; you sow a bare grain, say of wheat or something like that. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead: the thing that is sown is perishable but what is raised is imperishable; the thing that is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; the thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful; when it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit.
If the soul has its own embodiment, so does the spirit have its own embodiment. The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. That is, first the one with the soul, not the spirit, and after that, the one with the spirit. The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven. As this earthly man was, so are we on earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven. And we, who have been modelled on the earthly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man.
Gospel
Luke 8:4-15
The parable of the sower
With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, Jesus used this parable:
‘A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up. Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture. Some seed fell amongst thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell into rich soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.’ Saying this he cried, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’
His disciples asked him what this parable might mean, and he said, ‘The mysteries of the kingdom of God are revealed to you; for the rest there are only parables, so that they may see but not perceive, listen but not understand.
‘This, then, is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. Those on the edge of the path are people who have heard it, and then the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts in case they should believe and be saved. Those on the rock are people who, when they first hear it, welcome the word with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of trial they give up. As for the part that fell into thorns, this is people who have heard, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life and do not reach maturity. As for the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous heart who have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.’
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