Are you able to recognise the God-given signs in your lives? One way of doing this is to examine your conscience and try to see God’s presence in yourself and in others. Look for the presence of God’s hand in any of the small and big events in our lives. Look for his care behind some event that has occurred. Open your ears to hear His message which has been sent to you through a stranger or a friend or perhaps through nature. If you read the Bible either regularly or from time to time you should find His message in something you read. Let it sink into your mind and adjust your life in accordance with what you have read.
Let us all try during this coming week to open our hearts to God and be receptive to His Spirit through our active participation in the liturgy, instead of looking for signs in television or our neighbours.
The parable of the sower which we heard in the daily readings this week was intended as a warning to those who were listening to be attentive and to the apostles to be hopeful receivers, living out Jesus’ teachings and ideas. The sower is God, while we, the Church, are the teachers. The seed sown is the word of God, which has a cutting edge like “a sharp sword” and a purifying and strengthening power like “fire and hammer”. The hardened soil on the foot path represents people with minds closed because of laziness, pride, prejudice, or fear. The soil on rock represents emotional types of people who go after novelties without sticking to anything and who are unwilling to “put down roots” surrendering their wills to God. The soil filled with weeds represents people addicted to evil habits and evil tendencies and those whose hearts are filled with hatred, jealousy, and greed. They are interested only in acquiring money by any means and in enjoying life in any way possible. The good and fertile soil represents well-intentioned people with open minds and clean hearts, earnest in hearing the word and concentrate on putting it into practice.
Let us all try this week to become the good soil and produce hundred-fold yields by hearing, faithfully taking it on board and daily cultivating the word of God we have received, so that the Holy Spirit may produce His fruits in our lives