The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

We all have the chance to hear the same sermons, to read the same Gospels, etc. yet many walk away unchanged, and only a few become completely transformed. Today's Gospel gives us an indication of some of the reasons for these profoundly different effects.

The Gospel for today gives us the example of the different types of people (soil) upon which the word of God falls. Christ explained why His word was unable to grow or produce anything in the various types of souls. So, it becomes obvious that we must strive to be like the good soil so that His word will not only take root and grow but even to produce fruit a hundredfold.

What can we do to have this gracious gift for ourselves? The first requisite is that we truly desire it. This is an act of the will. Our desire is useless if it is only half-hearted or is nothing more than a passing whim. The desire that we must have must be strong and lasting. If we do not at first have this desire then that which is necessary will never follow.

We cannot give ourselves that which we do not possess. So let us first pray to the Holy Ghost and ask for this grace. Even this desire is a gift from God. God is faithful and He gives us all the first grace. The next step is up to us. Will we accept this grace? Will we accept the desire for Him and His word? Will we beg Him to come to us and grow within us?

So many fail at this juncture, because they feel the first devotion that God has given them and through their pride they think that they have given this to themselves and therefore they are doing well. In this mind set they see no need for going further and asking God for more graces. Their vanity that has attributed the passing movements of God's grace in their souls to themselves lulls them into the illusion that they are doing well, in spite of whatever their conscience may be telling them.

Therefore, in order to avoid this we must be careful with the first motions of God's grace in our souls. We must recognize and treasure every gift from God, even the very smallest. Let us therefore pray to God for this grace.

Yet, it is not enough to just desire _ as if the desire were the accomplishment. This desire is just the beginning. If a desire is true then it begins to use every means at its disposal to attain that which it desires. The farmer who desires a bounteous harvest must do much more than sit back and wish for it. If that is all he does then we can rightly conclude that he does not truly desire that which he says he desires. So it is with our souls. It is not enough for us to sit back and say, "I wish I was good, or I wish I was a Saint". This is childish laziness and foolishness.

Now that God has given us the grace to desire and pray for further graces, He expects us to begin to use that which we have. The obtaining of further graces is dependant upon our cooperating with that which we have already been given.

We want the word of God to produce a hundred fold in our souls. Let, us first make our souls receptive to the seed that He will plant there. Let us go through our hearts, minds, and souls and begin to take out all the stones, branches, etc. (trash) that is obstructing the seed from coming into contact with the good soil of our souls. We must rise up and examine our consciences thoroughly and then cleanse them within the sacrament of Penance. Having obtained the forgiveness of our sins then let us do penance and make reparation for our sins. And still the work is just beginning. We must now cultivate the field of our souls and loosen up the soil breaking up the hard heartedness of our souls so that God's word can find not only good soil but open and receptive soil. We need to till and cultivate this soil of ours. And then we must fertilize it with good readings, thoughts, desires, etc. being careful not to fill our minds, hearts and souls with that which is poison to the word of God, such as all ungodly "music", "entertainment", companions, etc.

And as the word of God takes root and begins to grow we still cannot rest. We must be ever vigilant and not sleep to keep the enemies of our souls from over sowing weeds in our souls. We must cut down any evil that we see growing in our souls as soon as we perceive it just as the farmer checks even the smallest weeds. We must constantly watch and pray. And almost imperceptibly God's word will grow bigger and stronger so that upon reaching the end of our lives we will find much to our surprise that there is a wondrous bounty that God has given us for our eternal pleasure.

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?