Monday Morning and the Umbrella

Greetings on this the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Is 55:10-11; Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14; Rom 8:18-23; Mt 13:1-23
Notes: The new Mass schedule requires shortened preaching.

Today Jesus puts firmly in control and responsible for our response to the divine.
His gift is identical for all, for all time and for every day of our lives. We choose.

Since I am preaching two masses in a row I still need different examples.

7:30 AM Monday Morning. When I was CTO at a technology firm an employee suggested we move a critical meeting from Monday mornings to Tuesday mornings. When I asked why, he said, ‘Because nobody wants to give you ANY reports on a Monday morning’.

9:00 AM The Umbrella. I will open a large golf umbrella to demonstrate how we can block the daily blessings of Almighty God that ‘rain down on us’ or with a stubborness of unrepentent umbrella the blessings fall to the ground.

Jesus is describing the various ways we resist the blessings of the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ. Each and every day the Lord sends us the good news. Each day we decide how it is received. Jesus gives us a specific set of responses we have and by using parables gives us the courage to face our resistance to the divine love.

First Reading
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.

Responsorial
The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.

Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods, Softening it with showers, blessing its yield.

Second Reading
We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Gospel Acclamation
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower. All who come to him will have life forever.

Gospel
He spoke to them at length in parables.

So we are ‘forced’ to fill-in-the-blanks to undertstand.
He forces us to think.

Birds

On the Path – without understanding.
Some have no space in their mind for the miraculous.
Some have no space in their hearts for unearned love.
We can trap our minds and hearts in many ways but first among them is to deny divine care, divine interest and divine power.

Jesus is the author of the miraculous.

Rocks

Poor soil – without gravity of heart.

Some lack the importance of the spiritual.
Some trivialize anything other than the physical.
Some lack the appreciation of actions and consequences.

Jesus is our gravity. Our Rock.

Thorns

Are the sum of our worldly cares.
We go to sleep or wake up with the weight of the problems who consume not just our mind but all we are.

Jesus has power over our problems.

Rich Soil

We are like rich soil when the seed falls upon us when we trust that God is the source of love, miraculous, our gravity, and our problem solver.

Don’t have a bad Monday Morning.

Wake up with Jesus’ good news on your mind and heart.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry