15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 55: 10-11; Rom 8: 18-23; Mt 13: 1-23
“The Word is active and alive” says the famous words from the letter 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 the Word 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
unforgettable fact is that producing fruits depends on more than one thing! First and above all, 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 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 account this 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!
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.
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).
To be good soil, we have to be Productive:
The yearning for the Reign of God, that St. Paul refers to in the second
reading as the mark of being children of God: that is a longing for a change,
the eagerness to grow, the 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.
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.
