One Minute Reflection – 22 September – Today’s Gospel: Luke 8:4–15 – Saturday of the Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year B
“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.”…Luke 8:15
REFLECTION – “If you ask me what Jesus Christ means by this sower who goes out early to cast his seed over his field then, my brethren, that sower is the good God Himself, who began the work of our salvation from the beginning of the world by sending us His prophets before the coming of Christ, to teach us what was needed, if we would be saved. Not content with sending His servants, He came Himself, He marked out the way we should take, He came to make known His holy Word.
Do you know what a person is like who is not fed by this holy Word?… Such a person is like a patient without a doctor, a traveller who is lost and without a guide, a poverty stricken person without means of help. Brethren, it is absolutely impossible to love and please God, unless we are fed by this divine Word. What can draw us to follow Him unless by knowing Him? And who enables us to know Him, with all His perfections, beauty and love for us, if not the Word of God, who teaches us about everything He has done for us and the good things He has in store for us in the next life?”…St John Marie Vianney (1786-1859)
“This parable reminds us that we are the soil where the Lord tirelessly sows the seed of His Word and of His love. How do we receive it? And it will do us good not to forget that we too are sowers. God sows good seed and here too we can also ask ourselves: which type of seed comes out of our heart and our mouth? Remember, what counts, is … what comes out of the mouth and of the heart.”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 13 July 2014
PRAYER – All-powerful, eternal God, splendour of true light and neverending day, turn our ears and hearts to Your Word, that we may hear and live by the seed You have sown. May all that grows in us be of Your good seed and yield fruit a hundredfold. Grant Lord, we pray, that by the prayers St Maurice and the Martyrs of Theban and St Thomas of Villanova, we may be filled with courage and love and spread Your Word by our lives. We make our prayer through Jesus, our Lord and Word, with the Holy Spirit, one God with You, forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 