The Congregation for the Clergy on the Parable of the Sower and the Seed

'Let us trustfully invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary, guardian of the Word, and the most sublime example ever realized of one who welcomed the Word into her existence,  so that she can guide us to be 'fertile soil'.  May she help us to wonder when confronted with the Divine Sower who never holds back confiding and faithfully awaiting the openness of our fragile liberty.'

P>VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - The readings in the Liturgy of the Word on this Sunday are an invite to a proper relationship with the Word, the Word made flesh.  The comparison that the Prophet Isaiah narrated between the rain and the snow that falls to fertilize the earth making it fruitful, is the prophetical annunciation of Divine action in history: God says 'so shall my word be that goes forth' (Is 55:11).

The Word is sent because it works and fulfills that which is in the heart of God, it isn't simply a Word that is said but a Word that gives life because it lives. The two verbs 'to work' and 'to fulfill' correspond in the comparison of the rain and the snow, to the verbs 'to water' and 'to fertilize'.

It is our duty to ask ourselves, what is the Word of God? What is it for us? What is the Word of God for our lives?

It isn't a word that is simply pronounced but it is generated by God Himself.  It is a word that meets us in our lives, not simply a book to read but a Person with whom we progressively really learn to live.

It is Christ the Lord, the Word of God!  It is the Word that works and fulfils everything: 'God's word is thus spoken throughout the history of salvation, and most fully in the mystery of the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Son of God' (Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, n.7).

From this perspective, we can then read the parable of the sower according to which seeds gives its fruit according to the terrain that welcomes it.  If it is Christ the Word that we welcome, then it is the heart of man, that fertile, arid or rocky terrain, awash with His presence, that is called to transform itself.

That which the presence of Jesus 'fulfils' in the heart of man is in constant relation with the tremendous mystery of our created freedom.  It is fulfilled to the extent in which man lives his life in profundity. 

The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI affirms that, 'it is precisely by looking at ourselves with truth, sincerity and courage that we understand the beauty, and also the precariousness of life and feel a dissatisfaction, a restlessness, that nothing material can assuage. In the end all promises often prove inadequate.  Dear friends, I invite you to become aware of this healthy and positive restlessness and not to be afraid to ask yourselves the fundamental questions on the meaning and value of life.

"Do not stop at partial, immediate answers; they are certainly easier and more convenient at the time and can bring a few moments of happiness, exaltation or intoxication but they do not lead you to the true joy of living, the joy that is born, as Jesus said, from those who build on solid rock rather than on sand.' (Meeting With The Young People  Of The Diocese Of San Marino-Montefeltro Address Of His Holiness Benedict XVI Sunday, 19 June 2011)

Let us trustfully invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary, guardian of the Word, and the most sublime example ever realized of one who welcomed the Word into her existence,  so that she can guide us to be 'fertile soil'.  May she help us to wonder when confronted with the Divine Sower who never holds back confiding and faithfully awaiting the openness of our fragile liberty.

Is 55,10-11:   www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9apoutbw.htm
Rm 8,18-23:  www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9a11lqh.htm
Mt 13,1-23:   www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9abta1m.htm

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