The liturgy of the fifteenth Sunday in ordinary time is based on the following readings: Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 65; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23. The main theme of this liturgy is the constant action of God to enlighten and to move individuals freely to believe in God.

Using a very simple language common to an agricultural society like ours, Isaiah compares the action of God to the vital rains that accomplish their purpose of watering the earth and making it fertile. According to this interesting imagery, the coming of the Messiah can be seen as an occasion of a blessing to man’s work and his or her whole being.

In psalm 65, the psalmist uses the same imagery to show the fruits of the effective action of God, during the harvest season. And the psalmist urges us to see the abundance of God’s action in the fields and valleys around us as a cause of joy in reply to such a generous outpouring from above.

In the second reading, St. Paul on the other hand tries to give meaning to both human joy and suffering, urging Christians to meditate on  the inevitable  sufferings of this world as part of personal transformation of our lives into the image and likeness of God as his children; following Christ who suffered a lot for our sake.  But according to St Paul, all this pain involved is nothing compared to the joy that awaits us at the end time.

St. Matthew’s Gospel tells the parable of the sower; in which Jesus emphasizes the variety of responses to God’s action. It is not due to God’s seed that the harvest fails in some people’s lives, but rather the way in which the seed is received. In some cases, the seeds die while in other circumstances, due to active assimilation of God’s action, they bear many fruits. Here Jesus was calling to mind an examination of conscience whereby individuals should check on the kind of response they give to God’s words.

From a doctrinal point of view, the above readings show us that there is a constant presence and work of God in our lives, though we often have difficulty recognizing it or perceiving such a presence. At times we are proud to be the sole authors of our actions; but in reality, our free decisions and actions are a response, positive or negative, to God’s initiative of love. Throughout our life, God moves us, in freedom, towards Him. He surrounds us with his presence, in a way which is at times very evident to us.

From a pastoral point of view, the reality that we live today seems to make man very destructed and hardly focused. In such a human confusion, God is seen at times as silent. Our minds which have a certain restlessness, marked by a compulsion to flit from one necessary distraction to another, must make an effort in order to be aware of the constant and effective action on God’s part in sustaining and moving all things towards a purpose. God’s constant action takes place in our lives and in each moment of our existence. There is something which is divine that is continuously unfolding in our lives whether we are aware of it or not. The parable of the sower teaches us that our perception of the divine in us, will always depend on our readiness to receive what comes from God, especially the word of God.

It is possible that the contemporary man’s distraction, his or her lack of focus and the possibility of having his or her priorities wrong, may frustrate God’s self revelation to the man of our time. When this happens to us, we tend to see only our own actions and existence; without perceiving the background of all that we see.  And this may account for our difficulty in perceiving God’s presence and action. To some, all this may seem irrelevant and unimportant compared to our immediate concerns and preoccupation. But against the backdrop of eternity, it is our immediate concerns and preoccupations that are, in fact, somehow secondary.  And this idea compels us to lead a meditated life.

Ends