REFLECTION: The Gratuitousness and Effectiveness of the Word of God.
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 55: 10-11; Romans 8: 18-23; Matthew 13: 1-23.
Fr. Benoit Mukamba, CSSp.
Today’s Word of God calls us to respond positively by showing a change in our life.
Prophet Isaiah compares God’s Word to rain and snow that come down and causes change to land and all that stands on it. It gives seed to the one who sows. The Lord Jesus teaches the parable of the sower where the seed is the Word of God and the ground is the human person. Both teachings are centered on the gratuitousness of the Word of God and its effects. The prophecy of Isaiah and the teaching of Jesus Christ complement each other while reinforcing the same message.
God speaks to every one of us the same Word but in various ways. God may speak to you through the Holy Scriptures, another human being and medians of human communication, as well as through natural events. Every human being hears God’s Word like the rain falls on all, the good as well as the bad. But it gives seeds only to the farmers who prepared their fields and sowed. Such is the word that comes from the mouth of God. And when sowing the seeds fall on different surfaces. If the Word of God finds your heart not open to receive it, it hits a rock and can’t cause an effect in your life. Sometimes, the rock is a particular dimension of your life that resists change and perpetuates sin. When the Word finds, you resemble a path, it enters, you may even share it with others but without drawing any benefits from it but those who heard it from you, take advantage of it. When you open your ears to the Word, with positive disposition, God’s Word comes into you and transforms your life. It puts you on the way of a continued transformation of every other dimension of your life. One becomes a new creation animated by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
This is what we called to be: new creation. As we listen to God’s Word preached to us or read it from the Bible, with prepared and open hearts, let us receive it with conviction for God neither errors nor leads into mistakes. God is the source of all truth. His Word gives life and leads us into the full truth.