Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Saturday, September 17, 2011
24th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial: St Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor
Optional Memorial: Our Lady’s Saturday
From: Luke 8:4-15
Parable of the Sower. The Meaning of the Parables
[9] And when His disciples asked Him what this parable meant, [10] He said,
“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but for
others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they
may not understand. [11] Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
[12] The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes
and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be
saved. [13] And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word,
receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of
temptation fall away. [14] And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those
who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches
and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. [15] And as for that in the
good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and
good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.”
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
4-8. Our Lord explains this parable in verses 11-15. The seed is Jesus Himself
and His preaching; and the different kinds of ground it falls on reflect people’s
different attitudes to Jesus and His teaching. Our Lord sows the life of grace in
souls through the preaching of the Church and through an endless flow of actual
graces.
10-12. Jesus uses parables to teach people the mysteries of the supernatural
life and thereby lead them to salvation. However, He foresaw that, due to the
bad dispositions of some of His listeners, these parables would lead them to
harden their hearts and to reject grace. For a fuller explanation of the purpose
of parables see the notes on Matthew 13:10-13 and Mark 4:11-12.
12. Some people are so immersed in a life of sin that they are the patch on
which falls the seed “which suffers from two kinds of hazard: it is trodden on by
wayfarers and snatched by birds. The path, therefore, is the heart, which is trod-
den on by the frequent traffic of evil thoughts, and cannot take in the seed and
let it germinate because it is so dried up” (St. Bede, “In Lucae Evangelium Ex-
positio, in loc.”). Souls hardened by sin can become good soil and bear fruit
through sincere repentance and penance. We should note the effort the devil
makes to prevent souls from being converted.
13. “Many people are pleased by what they hear, and they resolve to do good;
but as soon as they experience difficulties they give up the good words they
started. Stony ground has not enough soil, which is why the shoots fail to pro-
duce fruit. There are many who, when they hear greed criticized, do conceive a
loathing for it and extol the scorning of it; but as soon as the soul sees some-
thing else that it desires, it forgets what it previously promised. There are also
others who when they hear talk against impurity not only desire not to be
stained by the filth of the flesh but are even ashamed of the stains that they
already bear; but as soon as bodily beauty presents itself to their eyes, their
heart is so drawn by desires that it is as if they had done or decided to do no-
thing against these desires, and they act in a manner deserving condemnation
and in a way which they themselves previously condemned when they reflec-
ted on their behavior. Very often we feel compunction for our faults and yet we
go back and commit them even after bemoaning them” (St. Gregory the Great,
“In Evangelia Homiliae”, 15).
14. This is the case of people who after receiving the divine seed, the Christian
calling, and having stayed on the right path for some time, begin to give up the
struggle. These souls run the risk of developing a distaste for the things of God
and of taking the easy, and wrong, way of seeking compensations suggested
to them by their disordered ambition for power and their desire for material
wealth and a comfortable life involving no suffering.
A person in this situation begins to be lukewarm and tries to serve two masters:
“It is wrong to have two candles lighted—one to St. Michael and another to the
devil. We must snuff out the devil’s candle; we must spend our lives completely
in the service of the Lord. If our desire for holiness is sincere, if we are docile
enough to place ourselves in God’s hands, everything will go well. For He is
always ready to give us His grace” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 59).
15. Jesus tells us that the good soil has three features—listening to God’s de-
mands with the good disposition of a generous heart; striving to ensure that
one does not water down these demands as time goes by; and, finally, begin-
ning and beginning again and not being disheartened if the fruit is slow to ap-
pear. “You cannot ‘rise’. It’s not surprising: that fall!
“Persevere and you will ‘rise’. Remember what a spiritual writer has said: your
poor soul is like a bird whose wings are caked with mud.
“Suns of heaven are needed and personal efforts, small and constant, to shake
off those inclinations, those vain fancies, that depression: that mud clinging to
your wings.
“And you will see yourself free. If you persevere, you will ‘rise’” (St. J. Escriva,
“The Way”, 991).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Thanks everyone, I just fell into bed last night — too tired to do much else. Appreciate your faithfulness.