Sower and the seed: In India there is the custom of dowry during marriage. Though the term dowry is no more used it is still very much prevalent. The bride's parents have to give dowry to the groom. Most time they are in the form of gold and money. When my mother got married 43 years ago to my dad, my mom's father, my grandfather, gave gold, money and an acre of rice field to my dad. We cultivated rice in that field twice a year. Most work in the rice field was done by my parents, my siblings and myself. As you know Indians eat rice all the time and we needed so much rice for a family of 7 for the whole year. This Sunday's gospel is the parable Jesus told about the Sower and the seed. When reading this parable, it reminds me of my childhood, and how we worked in the fields. So, when Jesus said this parable it made so much sense to the people as they were so familiar with what he was talking about. But in the parable the sower is God and the seed is the word of God. The seed's good spiritual yield in one's life depends on how fully one willingly accepts and responds to the word of the Lord. The yield arising from the positive response will be abundant beyond all imagining. The parable tells us to do our part by preparing fertile soil in our hearts in which the word of God can germinate, grow and yield 30, 60 or 100 fold. We need to keep our spiritual soil fertile and prepared for the word of God. We need to keep our hearts open to the word of God instead of closing it with pride, prejudice, fear or laziness. We have to remove from our hearts the weeds like evil habits and addictions, evil tendencies, hatred, jealousy, fear and greed. We should not allow the trials and tribulations of this world, the cares of this world, our ambitions or our desires for worldly success and happiness to choke out the messages that God gives through His word.
God speaking through life events!: God speaks to us in varied ways. He can use people, events, things and even our misery to deliver His message. After fire detroyed his mansion, basketball star Kareem Abdul Jabbar told reporters: "My whole perspective has changed. I think it is more important for me to spend time with my son Amir and appreciate other things besides basketball." Kareem was fortunate. He heard what many others never heard: God's word speaking to him through events. He saw what many others have never seen; that life contains more important things than fame and money. --Can you recall a time when God seemed to speak to you? What did God seem to say to you? God often visits us, but most of the time we are not home.
Looking for Happiness: Once a group of 50 people were attending a seminar. Suddenly the speaker stopped and decided to do a group activity. He started giving each one a balloon. Each one was asked to write his/her name on it using a marker pen. Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room. Now these delegates were let in tha room and asked to find the balloon which had their name written, within 5 minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their name, colliding with each other, pushing around others and there was utter chaos. At the end of 5 minutes no one could find their own balloon. Now each one was asked to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon. The speaker began--Exactly this is happening in our lives. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is. Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness, you will get your own happiness. And this is the purpose of human life.
Pastor's head ache: One day a little girl went up to her mother and said, "Mommy I have a stomachache!" Her mother replied, "That's because it's empty dear, you have to put something into it. Eat some food and it will be fine." Later that night when they had the pastor over for dinner the pastor said, "I have a headache!" The little girl smiled and replied, "That's because it's empty, you have to put something into it!"
God's blessings
Fr Suneesh Mathew
