Receptive to the Word

In the Gospel this weekend, Jesus asks us a question as he asked it of those of his own day: are you truly hearing and accepting my word that it might grow in you and produce much fruit? Listening and hearing must be combined with understanding, that the word may be awakened and spring to life, take root and begin to grow.

In the parable of the sower and the seed, the sower is Christ himself and the ‘seed’ is the word about the coming reign of God in the person and work of Jesus. In the parable, the emphasis is on the sowing of the seed. In the interpretation of the parable the focus is on the way it is received.

How am I receiving the word of life, Jesus? Am I like the seed sown on the hard-beaten path? What in my life is hardened against Christ’s words because I follow the culture, the ‘beaten path’? What teaching of Jesus seems unrealistic to me?

Or am I enthusiastic about what I hear but then, as soon as difficulties and opposition rear their head, I give up. I don’t allow the word to take root. This is like the seed on rocky soil.

What are the attitudes or thinking that overwhelm me? This is like the seed that is sown among thorns. The word is choked out by the ‘worries of life’. Do worldly preoccupations distract me from what is priority of spiritual things? Inordinate desires for worldly things — such as possessions, popularity, pleasure and power — can choke out the word and prevent it from bearing fruit.

What we are all striving for is to be a person who is receptive to the word of the kingdom.

Lord, give me the grace to be neither hard, shallow nor preoccupied. May your message get through to me and be seen in a faith-filled and holy life. May I be open to your life-giving word. May it penetrate my heart, that I may be transformed and united to you wholeheartedly.