Message of Abbot Paul - Wednesday 26th January

Message from Fr Paul for Wednesday, 26th January 2022 

 Today we continue our reading of Mark’s Gospel, (Mk 4: 1-20), with the Parable of the Sower. When we look at the text, we note that it is divided into three sections. To begin with, after setting the scene and telling us that Jesus began to teach many things in parables, Jesus simply tells the story of the parable. We are not told which other parables he used for teaching that day. The scene then changes to Jesus alone with the Twelve, who don’t understand the parable and ask for an explanation. To begin with he tells them why he uses parables. Thirdly comes the explanation of the parable in an allegorical way, Jesus indicating what each word represents. He is surprised by their lack of perception and understanding. He exclaims. “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?” Was it too much to expect of them, perhaps, at this early stage of their discipleship? What Jesus fails to tell them is the identity of the sower. Who is the sower, if not Jesus, himself, if not God? If the sower is sowing the word, then the sower can be no one else, unless, looking to the future, it could be an apostle sent by Jesus to proclaim the Good News in his name?

 For us, it would be important lo look at the quality of the soil we offer to God when he comes to sow his word in our heart. How do we receive the word, nurture it, allow it to grow and flourish within us, use it, share it, propagate it? Are we prepared, in time, to become sowers of the word ourselves, givers as well as receivers? If we simply keep the word for ourselves, lock it away, then what purpose does it serve? What do we do to help others become more receptive to the word? Do we make the word attractive to others by the way we live out the word from day to day? The parables, of course, are about Jesus: they point to him as the word made flesh, God incarnate, he through whom “everything was made that was made,” as John write in the Prologue to his Gospel. Can others see that to be true by the way we live out our own hearing of the word?

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 I apologise for the brevity of today’s message and any inadequacies, of which there are many. I was seriously exhausted last night after a very busy day.