Homily Fifteenth Sunday Ordinary Time A Today, we celebrate the Fifteenth Sunday in the Ordinary Time. And in my homily today, I’ll focus on two main points.
My first point is about Divine Providence
Today’s First Reading is an evocation of Divine Providence, God who from the heavens and by his loving grace sends rain and snow to come down to water the earth, “
making it fertile and fruitful, and giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats.” According to the Catholic approach, “
as applied to God, Providence is God himself considered in that act by which, in his wisdom, he so orders all events within the universe, so that the end for which it was created may be realized.” In one word, we can say with Saint Paul that “
All is grace.” What do you have you didn’t receive? Everything we have is a gift from God. Everything we have is not because we deserve it, but we receive it by God’s grace and goodness: our life, our family, our priests, our parish community of Placerville and Georgetown, our job, our personal talents, your wife, your husband, your children, your parents, your success, etc. Everything we have is a gift from God. So we have to be grateful to God for all graces and everything we have received, to say, Thank You God. By the way, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus shows us how to express our gratitude to God through the beauty of the nature or environment. For example, in her Book “
The Story of the Soul”, Saint Therese considers herself as a little flower that God takes care of and protects. She says, “
God is providence. Without Him, my life is nothing and meaningless. Jesus chose to enlighten me on this mystery, the mystery of his divine grace. He opened the book of nature before me, and l saw that every flower He has created has a beauty of its own; that the splendor of the rose and the lily’s whiteness do not deprive the violet of its scent (…). I saw that if every little flower wished to be a rose, nature would lose her spring adornments, and the fields would be no longer enamelled with their varied flowers (…). I feel really happy just to be able to tell you of all the wonderful things God has done for me (…). I am the little flower of God. If a little flower could talk, it seems to me it would say what God has done for it quite simply and without concealment. It would not try to be humble by saying it was unattractive and without scent, that the sun had destroyed its freshness or the wind its stem, when all the time it knew it was quite the opposite. This flower, in telling her story, is happy to make known all the gifts that Jesus has given her…Purely out of mercy, He gave her these gifts. It was He who caused her to be born on soil which had been abundantly blessed, where eight radiant lilies already bloomed, and where the fragrance of purity was ever about her.” Let us follow in the footsteps of Saint Therese to acknowledge all the wonderful things God has done in our personal life. Let’s thank him; let’s praise him; let’s glorify his Holy Name. Let’s consider ourselves as little flowers of God, the little flowers of Placerville and Georgetown God takes care of, protects and waters with his divine grace, so our beauty will shine always and will never get faded by the rays of the sun of daily life.
My Second point is an invitation to all of us to be a fertile soil that receives the seed of the gospel and bear fruit in abundance.
When proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, Jesus used different kind of images related to the Jewish society and daily life. So in his parable today, he compares the kingdom of God to a sower: “
A Sower went out to sow.” The parable of the sower is one of the most famous parables of the Gospel. One of its specificity is the fact that it’s the only parable of the Gospel that Jesus clearly explains in detail: “
The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them.” When I read this parable with the clear explanation the Lord Jesus gives about it, I am speechless. I don’t know what else to say because I can’t give you a better explanation than what the Lord Jesus himself said. However, when I prayed and asked for the Holy Spirit guidance, the Holy Spirit inspired me. He told me not to focus on the meaning of the parable, but to have a new perspective in which I will highlight two main points.
A)The first point is about the different kind of soil or ground that receives the seed. There are four different kind of soil or ground: The First one is the
Path, because as the Lord says, “
some seed fell on the path.” The Second one is the
Rocky Ground: “
Other seed fell on rocky ground.” The Third one is The
Thorns: “
Some seed fell among thorns.” And the Fourth soil or ground is
The Rich or Fertile Soil. Therefore, when we do a simple evaluation of the overall ratio of the soil that received the seed, we’ll conclude without any doubt that three quarter of the soil was bad and unproductive. Fifty five percent of soil was of bad quality. If there was presidential election with a popular vote, the bad soil would win with 75% of votes. Then, the good soil, with only 25% of votes would be the great loser to the point to discourage the sower to lose faith and hope. So the question today is: and you, what kind of soil are you? Is your heart a good and rich soil that receives the seed of the Gospel and bear fruit of love, peace, joy, hope, service and fraternity? Christ the gardener and sower came to sow the seed of God’s Word in our hearts. The fate of that seed depends on the type of soil where it is sown. The growth of his grace in our lives depends on how we receive it. And you, what kind of soil are you?
B) The Second point is about the patience and hope of the sower. Despite the fact that the three quarter of the soil that received the seed was bad soil, the sower kept his hope and patience. The most important for him was not to have plenty of fruit of bad quality. But, on the contrary, he rejoiced about the outcome of his work. He had only 25% of good and rich soil, but 25% that gave him product of good and best quality. That attitude of hope and patience of the sower of the parable is the attitude of God, Jesus the perfect gardener and sower. That attitude must also be ours today in our mission of Evangelization. We go out to sow the seed of the Gospel in our communities, family and our society. And sometimes we have the impression that the outcome is not what we expect, and we get discouraged and lose hope. Perhaps we want more vocations to outnumber our seminaries, monasteries, and Religious Communities. Perhaps we want more children to the faith formation and catechism to outnumber our parishes, but the most important is not quantity, but good quality able to bear fruit and yield a Hundred, or Sixty, or Thirtyfold.
Rev, Fr Pepin W. F. DANDOU Georgetown, CA July 11, 2020.