Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 16th July 2023

Reading today’s Gospel aloud at the Vigil Mass yesterday afternoon, it struck me how long and longwinded it is, with hardly any need to preach a homily as Jesus himself explains the parable of the sower for the preacher! Why repeat what Jesus has already said as though the congregation were unable to understand what he’s saying? I wonder if Jesus always did that, yet only a few explanations are recorded. I couldn’t help but feel that Isaiah, whom we heard in the first reading, did a better job of it than Matthew, whose Gospel we were reading, (Mt 13: 1-23). Let’s listen to Isaiah, (Is 55: 10-11).

 

“Thus says the Lord: ‘As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.’” It’s all about the effect of God’s word on our lives and on our hearts and minds. Snow and rain have a powerful, necessary and immediate effect on nature. God’s word, by which all that is came to be in the beginning and all is now sustained, cannot but have a profound effect on those who hear it, especially those who hear it regularly in faith and with an open heart. It is bound to carry out God’s will and succeed in bringing about what it is sent to do. Just think of the Eucharist as an example. When Jesus says of the bread, “This is my Body, which is given for you,’ that bread becomes both his Body and the Sacrifice of Calvary by which we are saved. The same goes for the wine, which becomes his Blood. When God says to us, “I baptise you, I forgive you, I consecrate you, Receive the Holy Spirit, and so on” his word has the power to bring about and create what it says. Only we can get in the way and prevent this from happening. How often have you and I said ‘NO” to God?