Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The sower comes with the desire to make life grow, to make life multiply. “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John, 10:10). We can think of our hearts as the place where the seed is scattered. While we are all called to be the rich soil that receives the Word of life and produces fruit, we know that there is much that can get in the way. Life can get in the way. Are our hearts rocky ground that have been hardened by adversity? Has life caused us so much pain that we’ve developed thorns to defend ourselves and choke out any form of new life that might want to take root in us? Are our hearts simply a path that others can walk all over without giving ourselves the opportunity for life to grow in our inmost selves?
Sometimes these dynamics are so subtle that even we are unaware, we who ultimately want life in abundance. Jesus, the sower, knows this. That’s why he finishes his parable with “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” In a world filled with noise and distractions, can we place ourselves in a position that is desirous to let his Word enter our hearts and bear fruit? Like a tiny seed that grows silently, the process takes time. May the sower transform our hearts into rich soil that we may have life, and life in abundance.