July 12, 2020 -15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55: 10-11; Romans 8: 18-23; Matthew 13: 1-23
“The Word is active and alive” says the famous words from the letter to the Hebrews (4:12). Isaiah today, presents the same theme drawing our attention to the Word that comes from the Lord and does not return until it has accomplished the purpose for which it came! There is no doubt that the Word is active and alive, effective and efficient, powerful and purpose filled… but an indelible fact is that producing fruits depends on more than one thing! First and foremost of those conditions: it depends on the receiver, clarifies the Liturgy today. It is not that the Word will be automatically powerful and change-causing, independent of the one who listens to it. Right at the origin when the Scriptures deal with the creation narration, there is a difference made about the way the Word acted in relation to the human persons vis-à-vis the other creatures.
The Word awaits the response of the person in order to create in and through the person the desired effect. This is due to the Personal Freedom that the Lord empowers us with. The readings, the first and the Gospel, presents a beautiful analogy…the Word as Seed. The analogy is exceptional because it takes into serious account the crucial aspect of the readiness of the concerned person to respond, in order that the Word may bear fruit. The Word requires that the receiver is a Good Soil, so that the Word may have its way! What does it mean to be a good soil?
To be good soil, we have to be Receptive: Unlike the pathway that gives the seed away so easily, and does not have any room for the seed to penetrate, we need to be receptive in order that the Word may have some effect in us. The receptivity consists in our readiness to listen, our love to understand and the willingness to retain.
At times we seem to be listening, but actually we might not be listening at all. Very often in film making there is a convenient mode of story telling which is called the ‘mind voice’. It is a peculiar phenomenon, where the audience are given to hear what the person on the screen who seems to be listening to the other, is actually not listening to the other, but listening to and speaking to oneself! The other person thinks that he or she is being listened to, unaware of what is going on really in the mind of the other who appears to be attentive! This can happen in our daily lives too: we may appear to be listening to the Word – we read the Bible, we listen to sermons (sometimes even preach), we recite psalms, we do umpteen number of practices of piety through which the Word comes to us – but in all these we are so filled with what WE are doing, that the Word almost ends up on the pathway and disappears in no time. What a sad situation that could be! How conscious are we about what the Lord wants to communicate to us? How receptive are we?
To be good soil, we have to be Perceptive: Receiving is not enough, states the parable. The rocky ground and the land covered with thorns did receive the seed, but were not deep enough or prepared enough to send down its roots. Being perceptive consists in spending time with the Word. Allowing the Word to sink into us, to spark insights within us and to challenge our present style of life… these are the qualities that a real listener of the Word will have. Otherwise we would be, as James warns us, fooling ourselves (cf James 1: 22-25).
Have you come across persons who are totally excited at moments when they receive a great favour from the Lord – may be a good word from some one, may be a long awaited fulfillment of a dream, may be a unexpected favourable turn of events, may be a solution to a long endured problem… yes, so excited that they cannot contain themselves. They rant and ramble of the goodness of the Lord to them and their overwhelming happiness, but only to be seen within a short while grumbling and whining at a small problem, or a confusion, or a disappointment, or a failure! They might seem to have forgotten totally all that they were exuberant about a while ago! Anyone who listens to them at that moment, might think what a wretched time the person is having all his or her life! Wonder why this extremities? Purely because the experiences do not sink in, they remain at the periphery and get vapourised, disappear into the thin air, at the earliest! What a squandering of life’s moments this could be!
To be good soil, we have to be Productive: True yearning for the Reign of God, as St. Paul refers to in the second reading is the mark of being children of God. That is, a longing for a lasting change, the eagerness to grow, the formidable energy with which the seed bores the soil to put its head out into the world. We have to moan with the pain of a woman in childbirth; we cannot be complacent with our ordinary, below average spiritual life, if we really want some change to happen within us.
The Word challenges us towards this change. It is left to us, to our personal freedom and to our yearning for perfection, to make solid resolutions and follow it up with concrete actions. Most of the time, we may fail… that is no reason for discouragement, as long as we are ready, willing and earnest about starting all over again. The gift of life that God offers us, grants us innumerable opportunities to germinate, to grow and to produce fruit! All that we need to do is – stay receptive, grow perceptive ad live productive.
The Word awaits such productive grounds, that it may accomplish the task for which it was sent by the Lord. A receptive, perceptive and productive person, is the good soil on which the Reign will germinate, grow and spread into a great tree where birds of all kind will come, reside and rest. Are we?
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.