Daily Gospel Reflection

Be Like the Sower

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. I am Matthew Kelly and we're exploring the genius of Catholicism, the genius of the gospels, the genius of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ in today's gospel, which comes from the Gospel of Mark chapter 4 verses 1 through 20. Again, Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and a very large crowd gathered about him so that he got in a boat and sat in it on the sea. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he taught them many things in parables. And in his teaching, he said to them, "Listen, a sower went out to sow, and he sowed. Some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched. And since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into the good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding 30-fold and 60-fold and a hundredfold." And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And when Jesus was alone, those who were about Him with the Twelve asked Him concerning the parables. And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. But for those outside, everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn again and be forgiven."

And he said to them, "Do you understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” The sower sows the Word. And these are the ones along the path where the Word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the Word which is sown in them. And these, in like manner, are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while. Then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the Word, but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the Word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown upon the good soil, and the ones who hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit, 30-fold and 60-fold, and a hundredfold. It's one of my favorite parables. This is a parable we talk about all the time at Dynamic Catholic because it is a perfect paradigm for what we're trying to do in our massive evangelization.

The sower goes out and sows abundantly and generously. The sower doesn't go out and say, "I'm going to take this one little seed and I'm only going to put this one little seed in the rich soil." No, the sower goes out and sows the seed abundantly and generously. It's a great lesson for us. So the lesson for us today, the virtue for us today is generosity. Do we sow abundantly and generously? Are we generous with sharing the faith with other people? Are we generous with our things and our money? Are we generous with our compliments? Are we generous with our praise? Are we generous with our time, coaching people, helping people? It's an invitation to experience God's abundance and God's generosity and to sow like the sower abundantly and generously. God bless you. Have a great day. Remember, don't just be yourself. Be the very best version of yourself. All that God created you to be