Friday, September 21, 2012

 

SATURDAY 24TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR II

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012
SATURDAY 24TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR II

1 Cor 15:35-37, 42-49 / Lk 8:4-15

1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-37, 42-49
Some of you will ask: How will the dead be raised? With what kind of body will they come? You fools! What you sow cannot sprout unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body of the future plant but a bare grain of wheat or any other seed, It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in decomposition; it will be raised never more to die. It is sown in humiliation, and it will be raised for Glory. It is buried in weakness, but the resurrection shall be with power. When buried it is a natural body, but it will be raised as a spiritual body. For there shall be a spiritual body as there is at present a living body. Scripture says that Adam, the first man, became a living being; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. The spirit does not appear first, but the natural life, and afterwards comes the spirit. The first man comes from the earth and is earthly, while the second one comes from heaven. As it was with the earthly one, so is it with the earthly people. As it is with Christ, so with the heavenly. This is why, after bearing the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

LUKE 8:4-15
As a great crowd gathered, and people came to him from every town, Jesus began teaching them with a story: "The sower went out to sow the seed. And as he sowed, some of the seed fell along the way, was trodden on, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and no sooner had it come up than it withered, because it had no water. Some seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with the seed and choked it. But some seed fell on good soil and grew, producing fruit, a hundred times as much!" And Jesus cried out, "Listen then, if you have ears to hear!" The disciples asked him, "What does this story mean?" And Jesus answered, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to others it is given in the form of stories, or parables, so that seeing they may not perceive, and hearing they may not understand." Now, this is the point of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the wayside are people who hear it, but immediately the devil comes and takes the word from their minds, for he doesn't want them to believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are people who receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe for a while, and give way in time of trial. Among the thorns are people who hear the word, but, as they go their way, they are choked by worries, riches, and the pleasures of life; they bring no fruit to maturity. The good soil, instead, are people who receive the word, and keep it in a gentle and generous mind, and persevering patiently, they bear fruit.

REFLECTION
The early Church found great comfort in this parable. The first Christians were trying to understand why their preaching of the Gospel was not universally accepted, and why some people who enthusiastically embraced the word when they first heard it, later moved away from the word and the community. They thought perhaps that they themselves were at fault, that they were not preaching the word with sufficient conviction.

The word, like the seed, is thrown over the land. Whether it will take root and bear a fruitful plant depends to a great extent on the ground on which the seed fell. The growth of the word, therefore, depends on the disposition of the person who received it. Is the recipient open to the Word, has he sufficient maturity and depth, is he sufficiently sincere?

The parable is presented to encourage us to preach and live our faith enthusiastically even though we don't see a hundredfold harvest. The parable is meant to be a source of comfort for us. But it should also cause a bit of anxiety within us because the word's growth within us will depend to a great extent on the disposition with which we ourselves receive it.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Fr. Ismael Zuloaga, SJ
- Luciana Ilagan
… for the personal intentions of
- Emma Quicho
- Pauline
… In Memoriam: Eriberta C. Calvario
… for the eternal repose of the souls of
- Bernardo Santiago Jr.
Eternal rest grant unto them and may perpetual light shine upon them. May they and all the dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Maria Rosabel Nazal Kaw
- Birthday: Micah M. Del Carmen
- Birthday: Anthony Chua
- Birthday: Regina Morabe
… for families who are in need of healing
… for world peace and reconciliation.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

**************************************************

These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only. Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends, colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the following:

+================================================+
| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the
| priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish
| http://www.marythequeen.org
| Distributed free and for personal use only.
+================================================+

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GoogleGroup Address: http://groups.google.com/group/daily_homily
To subscribe from this free mailing service, send email to: dailyhomily@earthlink.net
To unsubscribe: daily_homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
 
© 2012 Daily-Homily

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?