Let your light shine!

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 13:18-23)

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

This is the word of the Lord.

On July 26 the Church celebrates the memorial of Saints Joachim and Anna, the parents of Our Lady, and grandparents of her son Jesus.

Listen here.

Do we really know who Mary’s parents were? The Bible tells us nothing about them. Preaching about the Nativity of Our Lady, St. Peter Damian considered it a needless curiosity to inquire about those things the Evangelists did not deem necessary to relate. However, there is nothing bad in accepting this tradition and venerate Jesus’s grandparents under the names of Joachim and Anna. Whatever name Mary’s father had, the name Joachim means ‘Jahweh prepares’ and it fits his mission for through him God prepared a mother for his Son. Whatever name Mary’s mother had, the name Anna means ‘grace’. These names fit well in the story of our redemption, for through his grace (Anna), God was preparing (Joachim), the best of mothers (Mary) for His Son (Jesus). It is also very appropriate to celebrate their memorial for it speaks to us about Jesus being really human. He did not just appear on our world and in our history. He was born in a family like any other human being, and he had parents whose name we know, Joseph and Mary, and grandparents whose names are not given to us by the Bible but were mentioned in very old documents and were accepted by the Church during later centuries. It seems to me that naming Mary’s parents, helps us to remember that, although we give the highest honour and glory possible to Our Lady, she still remains a human being, born of grace (Anna) and prepared by God (Joachim).

Now let us reflect on today’s gospel selection.

Matthew tells us that Jesus told a large crowd the story of a sower who went out to sow. Some of the seeds fell on the path, others fell on rocky ground and others still among thorns. Some fell on rich ground and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Today’s reading is an explanation that Christ gave to his disciples to whom “knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted”.

In our culture people do not go about throwing seeds in abundance not really caring that some of the seeds fall on unprepared ground. Nowadays people have machines which can measure how many seeds are sown into each hole and how much fertilizer goes in each hole in the hope that they will have the best of harvests. Was the man in Christ’s story a careless sower who did not bother where the seeds fell? He was not careless. He was generous! Jesus was not teaching his hearers how to make good use of the land nor was he teaching new techniques for obtaining better results in agriculture. He simply related what he saw sowers doing in his days in Palestine to what he saw his Father doing in his relationship with human beings.

So the sower was generous because the Father is generous. He does not classify humans as good or bad people, for all of them are children of the heavenly Father who “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5, 45). Surely, God’s generosity inspired Saint Paul to ask Timothy to “proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4,2).

The seed being the word of God, and the sower the Word of God (in capital letters), we cannot have a better view of God’s generosity. Through Christ’s preaching, the Father wants to give every single human being the opportunity to receive the “knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God” (Lk 1, 77-78). Christ’s was not a haphazard, hit-or-miss preaching. It was the generous effort of the one who wanted every person to accept his love, to accept being loved by him.

The Word, the incarnate Son of God accepted every risk and did not measure his love for human beings he wanted to save, for “he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2, 8). This was not a calculated risk, but a show of love, for “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends” (Jn 15, 13).

The generosity of God’s love is not always well received. Jesus explained to his disciples that the seeds that fell along the path are those who hear the word and do not understand it and it is easily snatched by the birds, representing the devil who can disguise himself as a lamb, a bird or things of which we are not afraid. The seed that fell on rocky ground are those who are not deep enough for the seed to expand its roots and bring fruit. The seed that fell among thorns are those who are so taken by the cares of the world that the word in them is choked and it yields nothing. Then there are the seeds that fell on good soil and they yielded some a hundredfold, others sixty and others thirtyfold.

Well, we might want to consider ourselves good people and to start labeling the others trying to identify who is represented by the seed that fell along the path, or on rocky ground or among thorns. We had better not, though, for all these six types of persons can be found in each one of us, in me and in you, in different moments of our living.

We profess frequently that we are sinners, and we sin because sometimes we accept Christ’s inspirations like the seed along the path, sometimes we are like rocky ground and sometimes we are choked by thorns. Sometimes we love God with all our heart and mind and energy, and give him a hundredfold. Sometime we might be less generous and produce sixty or thirtyfold.

So we are sinners.

But we are not always sinners, and we are not always as good as we can be. So let us keep our hearts open to love, open to hope. And every time we are aware that we have sinned, let us ask God to forgive us as Christ asked us to do. God already knows that we sin and that we want to be forgiven, but he wants us to tell him, for we can only free ourselves from the burden of sin if we confess it to somebody who can give us rest. This is what Jesus asked us to do when he said “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11, 28). Christ knows that we need to confess our sins and we do confess them, although many a time we confess them to those who cannot give us rest! He knows how we function because he made us, and that is why he asks us to open our hearts to him through a minister who lends him voice and visibility.

Sometimes we are worried because we cannot give ourselves totally to God, always. Let us not be excessively preoccupied for God knows that we are only fragile human beings and that is why he wants us to help him by letting “our light shine before others, so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven” (Mt 5, 16).

Let us remember that there is a variety of sources of light and all of them are useful. There is the Sun and the Moon (Jesus and Mary). We cannot be a sun or a moon, but we can be lamps, torches or candles. These are our lights. Let us do our best to keep them shining and keep our hearts on fire for Christ.