+(Intro) As we will hear in the gospel today, God speaks in our hearts that they may bear much fruit. So let us be mindful of how we may fail to be rich soil for God’s living Word.
(after the Gospel) We just heard of Jesus beside the sea, telling us about the Sower who went out to sow his seed. Clearly, this is an image of what is happening right here at this Eucharist as we hear God speaking to us through the sacred texts and the sacrament we receive. If our hearts are receptive, they become more and more soil where God’s Word bears thirty, sixty or a hundredfold.
Certainly, this was true of the life of the Jeremiah who was called to be a prophet though he thought himself too young to speak God’s word to the nations. He was to have no fear, for God was going to deliver him from every harm. So much of a monk’s life, and really the life of every Christian, is a matter of opening our hearts to divine grace so as to become rich soil as God speaks to us throughout the day. May we allow Christ to touch our mouths as God touched that of Jeremiah so that we too may be able to destroy and to demolish the false self and above all, to build and to plant the seeds of love in those around us.
Jer. 1:1; 4-10; Mt.13:1-9