Readings & Reflections: Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Sharbel Makhluf, July 24,2019

Born in the hills of Lebanon to a poor but devout family and as a boy, he tended sheep in the wilderness, where he fashioned for himself a shrine to our Lady, spending long hours in prayer. Joseph entered the monastery of Our Lady of Maifouk, taking the name Sharbel, after a second-century martyr. For 23 years Sharbel prayed in the solitude of a hermitage, seeking to unite himself totally with the daily sacrifice of the Mass. His entire life centered on the sacrifice of the Mass. In 1898 A.D., Sharbel experienced a stroke while saying Mass. He was praying, according to the Maronite rite, “Father of truth, behold your Son who makes atoning sacrifice to you. Accept the offering: he died for me that I might have life. Behold the offering! Accept it….” Sharbel repeated this prayer shortly before his death eight days later. After his death in 1898 A.D., many miracles were attributed to his intercession. His reputation for holiness draws thousands of pilgrims to his shrine each year. Pope Paul VI called Sharbel the “admirable flower of sanctity blooming on the stem of the ancient monastic traditions of the East.”

AMDG+

Opening Prayer

“Lord, faith in your word is the way to wisdom, and to ponder your divine plan is to grow in the truth.  Open my eyes to your deeds, and my ears to the sound of your call, that I may understand your will for my life and live according to it”. In your Mighty Name, I pray. Amen.

Reading I
Ex 16:1-5, 9-15

The children of Israel set out from Elim,
and came into the desert of Sin,
which is between Elim and Sinai,
on the fifteenth day of the second month
after their departure from the land of Egypt.
Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel
grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The children of Israel said to them,
“Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt,
as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!
But you had to lead us into this desert
to make the whole community die of famine!”

Then the LORD said to Moses,
“I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.
Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;
thus will I test them,
to see whether they follow my instructions or not.
On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in,
let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation
of the children of Israel:
Present yourselves before the LORD,
for he has heard your grumbling.”
When Aaron announced this to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, they turned toward the desert, and lo,
the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud!
The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
“I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel.
Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,
and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,
so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.”

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp.
In the morning a dew lay all about the camp,
and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert
were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.
On seeing it, the children of Israel asked one another, “What is this?”
for they did not know what it was.
But Moses told them,
“This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 78:18-19, 23-24, 25-26, 27-28

R (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
They tempted God in their hearts
by demanding the food they craved.
Yes, they spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the desert?”
R The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Yet he commanded the skies above
and the doors of heaven he opened;
He rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread.
R The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
He stirred up the east wind in the heavens,
and by his power brought on the south wind.
R The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
And he rained meat upon them like dust,
and, like the sand of the sea, winged fowl,
Which fell in the midst of their camp
round about their tents.
R The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Gospel
Mt 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.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection 1 – A sower went out to sow

There are times when life is just beyond us. Opportunities to advance come at odd times. Ways of doing good do not come as swift as our hearts would hope them to be. Most often we find ourselves faced with situations, which are very alluring, and attractive to us, yet we cannot seem to face them with a firm heart because we feel ill equipped and not ready for such an endeavor.

At times, we say we got the right thing at the wrong time. Because we do not trust ourselves, we may even forego a chance of a lifetime. Because we have not learned to follow what our imperfect hearts bring to us, we step aside and keep on searching for something that will fit our ever-changing circumstances.

When obstacles abound, we easily give up even if it is God’s Word, as one who does not trust himself finds it difficult to trust anyone even God. One who has no faith, will find it difficult to listen, much more be obedient and follow!

Most often what aggravates our situation is our failure to see through things that come to us, whether they are from God or from our very human instincts. We are quite self-centered that we would rather be self-made rather than be God-made. We excuse ourselves and set aside whatever our Lord may have prepared for us. Most of the time we feel that what God wants from us come into our lives, without warning and without preparation, because we have learned to listen and wait only for what soothes our inclinations and preferences, our plans. We have been experts in being deaf to God’s word. And we hear echoing in our own souls the very same cries of Jeremiah, “I know not how to speak; I am too young.”

When this happens in our lives we can be likened to rocky ground, where it had little soil. When seed was sowed, 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. We are not far from soil with a lot of thorns, the seed grew up and choked it.

How we respond to what our Lord is calling us to pursue is what distinguishes Jesus’ followers from all others. If we have truly given our lives to our Lord, then those moments become occasions of grace, occasions when we allow our Lord to open our hearts and receive his guidance and hear his word. When we do this, we give our Lord a chance to make His presence felt as He stands by us, faithfully providing us with the spiritual strength we need to face whatever difficulties that may transpire and guaranteeing us that He will deliver us and keep us from harm. When we open our hearts to God, His Word and His instruments, we are like rich soil, we produce fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty fold.

Brethren, if we only pay attention to our Lord and listen to Him, He will reveal to us how important we are to His mighty plans. We may always feel too young, always new and half-baked. But we need to hear what God spoke to Jeremiah as he had these same feelings: “To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”

That is why those “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” When we hear God’s Word, we should ACT on it and bear much fruit!

Let us note that God made all of us from His goodness and godliness, that is why we are all RICH soil. Our past lives… our sinfulness transformed us from rich soil to rocky soil, at times even filled by the thorns of our bitterness and unforgiveness. Net result is we have hearts that are hardened by our own actions… our very own sins! Lord have mercy on us, sinners! 

Order

“To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.” “Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you”

Direction

Let us open our hearts to God’s Word. Allow it to grow a hundred or sixty or thirty fold. Let us frequent the sacrament of reconciliation and allow God to clean up our hardened hearts, so that we may see and act according to God’s ways.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I totally entrust my life to you. In Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Reflection 2 – Preparing good ground in our lives

No matter how heavy her work load, Frances Perkins made a monthly retreat at All Saints Sisters of the Poor convent near Washington, D.C. As FDR’s Secretary of Labor, Perkins prayed daily over whatever recommendations she made to the president. She was on retreat when she drafted the Social Security program. The Sisters found her in the chapel in the early morning on her knees seeking God’s guidance. Her empathy for the poor, whom she had interviewed in the slums and factories, drove her to advocate for the 40-hour work week, unemployment benefits and a public works program. As she put it, “I came to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten, plain, common working men (and women).”

Like the young prophet Jeremiah (Jer 1:1, 4-10), Frances Perkins did not at first feel qualified to fulfill God’s call. She, too, dreaded the opposition she would face and the publicity hounds who would pursue her. However, as Jeremiah was upheld in his suffering, so was Perkins enabled “to build and plant” for the sake of those most in need.

On the day when Jesus chose to tell his Parable of the Sower, he was surrounded by a sea of people hungering for some good news. He sat down in a boat, looked at them with love and introduced them to a farmer, a common person like most of them. Since it was the custom simply to scatter seed over unplowed ground, they knew that the Sower’s crop would be limited by how much seed took root in fertile soil.

Jesus made sure that his listeners could picture three distinct possibilities for the seeds. Some seed hardly made it to the ground before it was scooped up by opportunistic birds. Others sprang up in rocky ground but withered in the heat of the day. Yet others landed in rich ground and grew up to provide a hundredfold harvest. And Jesus concluded, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Whoever has ears, as did Frances Perkins and all the blessed, this is our call: to prepare the good ground of our lives through prayer and worship, compassion and just deeds. By doing so, we help build and plant God’s kingdom in our midst. (Source: Gloria Hutchinson. Weekday Homily Helps. Ohio: St. Anthony Messenger Press, July 21, 2010).

Reflection 3 – Since they had no root they withered away

Are you hungry for God’s word? Matthew tells us that Jesus taught many things to those who came to listen and learn. Jesus’ teaching method was a very simple one. He used parables – short stories and images taken from everyday life to convey hidden truths about the kingdom of God. Like a skillful artist, Jesus painted evocative pictures with short and simple words. A good image can speak more loudly and clearly than many words. Jesus used the ordinary everyday images of life and nature to point to another order of reality – hidden, yet visible to those who had “eyes to see” and “ears to hear”. Jesus communicated with pictures and stories, vivid illustrations which captured the imaginations of his audience more powerfully than an abstract presentation could. His parables are like buried treasure waiting to be discovered (Matthew 13:44).

Sowing seeds that take root and grow
What does the parable about seeds and roots say to us about the kingdom of God? Any farmer will attest to the importance of good soil for supplying nutrients for growth. And how does a plant get the necessary food and water it needs except by its roots? The Scriptures frequently use the image of fruit-bearing plants or trees to convey the principle of spiritual life and death. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.  He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8; see also Psalm 1:3).

The shut mind and prejudiced hearer
Jesus’ parable of the sower is aimed at the hearers of his word. There are different ways of accepting God’s word and they produce different kinds of fruit accordingly. There is the prejudiced hearer who has a shut mind. Such a person is unteachable and blind to what he or she doesn’t want to hear. Then there is the shallow hearer. He or she fails to think things out or think them through; they lack depth. They may initially respond with an emotional reaction; but when it wears off their mind wanders to something else.

Too busy and preoccupied to listen
Another type of hearer is the person who has many interests or cares, but who lacks the ability to hear or comprehend what is truly important. Such a person is for ever too busy to pray or too preoccupied to study and meditate on God’s word. He or she may work so hard that they are too tired to even think of anything else but their work. Then there is the one whose mind is open. Such a person is at all times willing to listen and to learn. He or she is never too proud or too busy to learn. They listen in order to understand. God gives grace to those who hunger for his word that they may understand his will and have the strength to live according to it. Do you hunger for God’s word?

“Lord Jesus, faith in your word is the way to wisdom, and to ponder your divine plan is to grow in the truth. Open my eyes to your deeds, and my ears to the sound of your call, that I may understand your will for my life and live according to it.” – Read the source: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2019/jul24.htm

Reflection 4 – I have put my words in your mouth

Jeremiah served the Lord and his people for more than forty years, from 627 BC to around 582 BC. He served from the reign of the good king Josiah to the time after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. He was from a priestly family and was called by God in the thirteenth year of King Josiah. He did not see a vision of God’s glory like Isaiah, but rather entered into dialogue with God and understood his prophetic mission.

In his dialogue with God, Jeremiah immediately recognized his limitations. He thought he was too young and inexperienced. The Lord tells him not to be afraid, for the he will deliver him. The Lord touched Jeremiah’s mouth and put his words in the prophet’s mouth. This powerful word will overthrow nations, destroying what existed and planting the seeds of new life (see M. Duggan, The Consuming Fire, Ignatius Press, 294).

Jeremiah teaches us the great truth that God knows each one of us from eternity. He knows us even before we are conceived in the womb. He has a plan for each one of us. It is a plan that is greater than we are able to imagine. This fact does not mean that we will not suffer in life. Jeremiah’s life, for example, was full of suffering on account of God’s word. The knowledge that God watches over each one of us, fills us with hope and trust in God. We depend on him from birth and he is our strength. Our task is to declare his justice and salvation to all men and women. We should not fear since the words we speak are God’s words, and the strength we enjoy is of divine origin.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we heard the first of a series of eight parables, the parable of the sower. Jesus explains that the seed is the one who hears the word of the kingdom. Some of those who hear the word do not understand it (the path), others welcome it superficially (rocky ground), others are distracted by the world (thorns), others understand it and bear fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty-fold, others one hundredfold.

The seven parables that follow will continue to reveal the mystery of the kingdom, first explaining the difference between the children of the kingdom (good seed) and the children of the evil one (bad seed), then how the kingdom grows (from a small seed to a large plant), third, how the kingdom transforms the world (yeast in dough), fourth, how the kingdom is not revealed to all (parable of the hidden treasure), fifth, how the kingdom is worth more than everything else (parable of the pearl of great price), sixth, how the separation of the righteous, who enter the kingdom of heaven, and wicked, who are thrown into the fiery furnace, will take place at the end of the age (parable of the dragnet), and finally, how Jesus’ disciple have been instructed in the kingdom of heaven (parable of the head of a household who brings out both new and old).

Jeremiah was a young man when he heard the word of God. We can say that he was good seed that fell on good soil and bore fruit for the Lord, probably one hundredfold. He sought to understand the word; he allowed it to enter deep into his heart and transform his way of life; he didn’t let worldly anxiety choke the word he was given. We simply ask God today to help us fall deep into good soil, so that we may bear fruit that lasts – the fruit of the heavenly kingdom of justice, peace and love.

Read the source text: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/daily-homily-i-have-put-my-words-in-your-mouth–2

Reflection 5 – Planting Good Seeds

Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord. —Hosea 10:12

As a new gardener, I soon learned that uncultivated soil was resistant to seed planting and growth. But when I planted good seeds in well-prepared soil, heaven’s sun and rain did their part until the harvest came. Well-prepared soil, the right seeds, and God’s blessing are essential for fruitfulness, not only in gardening but also in Christian living.

God’s prophet Hosea preached this principle to the people of Israel. They had sown seeds of wickedness and trusted in their own way instead of God’s. Now they were eating the bitter fruit of lies, especially the lie that their safety and success came from their own military strength (Hosea 10:13).

Hosea pleaded with Israel to go God’s way—to break up the sin-hardened soil of their hearts and to “seek the Lord” (v.12). If they would sow seeds of righteousness, they would reap the Lord’s mercy and He would rain blessings on them.

Is the soil of your heart resistant to God and His Word, rather than receptive? Do you trust in your own way rather than in God’s? Then it’s time to seek the Lord in honest repentance, to sow right actions and attitudes in your life, and to grow His way. Above all, depend on His power rather than your own to make you fruitful.  — Joanie Yoder

If you sow the seeds of wickedness,
Its lies will cloud your mind;
If you scatter seeds of righteousness,
God’s blessing you will find. —Sper (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 6 – Roots Or Shoots?

Because they had no root they withered away. —Matthew 13:6

In the life of trees, one key to survival is having more roots than shoots. In his book Oak: The Frame of Civilization,, author William Bryant Logan says, “If a tree puts on a lot of top growth and few roots, it is liable to be weak-wooded and short-lived. . . . If a tree puts down a great deal of roots and adds shoots more slowly, however, it is liable to be long-lived and more resistant to stress and strain.”

People and organizations can be like trees. The rise to prominence is exhilarating, but anything that puts up shoots faster than it puts down roots is fragile and in danger of breaking, falling, or dying.

Jesus used a similar analogy in His parable of the sower. People who hear the Word and receive it joyfully are like seed sown on stony places; they spring up quickly but endure only a short time because they have no roots (Matt. 13:6,20-21).

Roots aren’t at all glamorous, but they are the source of our strength. If our roots go deep in the knowledge of God (Jer. 9:24) and our lives are “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3), we’ll be strong, resistant to blight, and more likely to survive the storms of adversity.

How deep are your roots?  — Julie Ackerman Link

Lord, keep me from being envious of the beautiful and the seemingly powerful. May I use Your resources to put down roots that will make me strong rather than growing branches to make me attractive. Amen.

The roots of stability come from being grounded in God’s Word and prayer (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 7 – Passing the tests