17 September 2016
Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
The parable of the sower is one story that most Christians could recite without a text. Each time we hear it, the text invokes our reflective sides to awaken. The normal question we ask is what type of person am I. Am I the person who is choked by the anxieties of the world and to enjoy a higher status than others? Or, am I the person who is easily tempted to put aside my call to discipleship as soon as it becomes inconvenient? Am I the person who responds with generosity to follow the Lord where he wants to lead me? While we desire to be the generous person, the truth of the matter is we are not definitively any of these types. We go back and forth as we approach situations that reveal our attachments to worldly goods or aversions to the Gospel.
We have the seeds of each type of person within ourselves. We each have parts of our hearts that are inhospitable or fertile ground for the love of Jesus to take root in our lives. The generous person in the parable continues to respond with openness to God because she knows how much she needs God’s love to heal and reform her attachments and fears. The other types do not recognize their need for God always to sustain them in responding with a gift of one’s whole being to the Lord. The path of generosity is a restless one since it involves continually asking God for deeper self-knowledge to understand how to respond to one’s call. This restlessness is a feature of the way we grow.
What areas of my life do I exhibit generosity to the Lord? Where have I been hesitant or failed to live up to a commitment I have made to God? How could I invite God into those areas of my heart?
By
September 17th, 2016