In this day and age when we read the Gospel we would probably say it is the story about an inefficient, wasteful and clueless sower. How can a sower not know the ground in which he plants his seed? How can precious seed be allowed to be wasted? Or to be left to chance that one in four will yield a crop?
Ah…now perhaps our eyes are opened a little to glimpse into the heart of the Lord our God Himself. To see just how precious we are to Him, that the seed (His Word) He scatters are seeds of hope and promise. How we receive this precious seed is what matters. Do we guard it? Do we fight to protect it? Do we nurture and care for it? How can we return to the Lord a hundredfold the seed He planted in our hearts? So what if we are successful in life? How many souls have we saved? How much have we contributed to building up His Kingdom? Jesus did not come for the successful, the well to do, he came for us, sinners, ‘failures’. So that He can raise us up to be counted amongst the Saints in Heaven.
So then do we go on complaining about how little we have or how hard we have it? Or instead with grateful hearts be thankful to the Lord our God for all that we have. To be ever so grateful and thankful for the most precious gift He has bestowed upon us, the bread of life come down from Heaven. Now and forevermore. Amen
First reading
Exodus 16:1-5,9-15 ·The Lord sends quails and manna from heavenFrom Elim they set out, and the whole community of the sons of Israel reached the wilderness of Sin – between Elim and Sinai – on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. And the whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, this will be twice as much as the daily gathering.’ Moses said to Aaron, ‘To the whole community of the sons of Israel say this, “Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaints.”’ As Aaron was speaking to the whole community of the sons of Israel, they turned towards the wilderness, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the form of a cloud. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your heart’s content. Then you will learn that I, the Lord, am your God.”’ And so it came about: quails flew up in the evening, and they covered the camp; in the morning there was a coating of dew all round the camp. When the coating of dew lifted, there on the surface of the desert was a thing delicate, powdery, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, ‘What is that?’ not knowing what it was. ‘That’ said Moses to them ‘is the bread the Lord gives you to eat.’
Gospel
Matthew 13:1-9A sower went out to sowJesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’
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