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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider The one who hears the word and understands it

The one who hears the word and understands it

Published Jul 27, 2023 09:22 pm

REFLECTIONS TODAY


In our modern age, we are made to believe that only the empirically quantifiable matters. What we can measure with a rule stick or a weighing scale is the truth for some people. This obviously cannot be applied to our humanity and spiritual life. We cannot measure with any instrument the most significant aspects of our existence. We cannot measure love with weights. We cannot measure decency and honesty with a ruler. We cannot measure the abundance of spiritual delights that God infuses our souls with. Jesus speaks in quantities of hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold as illustration of how the Word of God can transform us according to our reception of it. So let our harvest be plentiful by welcoming the Word of God through hearing or reading, meditation and contemplation, and by application of it in our lives.

FIRST READING • Ex 20:1-17

In those days: God delivered all these commandments: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me.  You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain. “Remember to keep holy the sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you. In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you.

Gospel • Matthew 13:18-23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Hear the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the Evil One comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2023,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]); Website: [http://www.stpauls.ph](http://www.stpauls.ph).

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