A Cycle – 15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 26

Mt.13:1-23

My Word will not return to me void but it shall do my will, achieving the reason for which I sent it.

 Everything we need to know about who we are and to discover the purpose and the meaning of our lives is revealed to us in the scriptures.  King David understood this and he made it clear when he said “…in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” (Ps.139:16. At our conception God had a meaning and a purpose for our lives and he gifted us to fulfill that destiny.  Yet from our birth until we reach adolescence we rarely think of God’s plan for our lives.  In our early years We are guided in life by parents, teachers, mentors to strive to live a life that is worthy and productive.  Later in life we discover we have gifts and talents we discover are marketable. Those talents guide our decisions about our destiny as doctors, lawyers, teachers, musicians, writers, engineers and financial experts. Or we find we prefer to become farmers, plumbers, carpenters, hairdressers, first responders, and so on.   

But when does discovering God’s plan for your life begin to stir in your heart.  It is not a matter of parental guidance or by the guidance of someone spiritual.  It is when a passage in scripture penetrates the meaning for which it was given to us.  It is when the faith of another person impacts you in a way that causes you to reflect on a reality which tells you that you are missing something. Your life is not complete.  It is a nagging which cannot be satisfied by what the world has offered you. It calls you to make a choice about the direction of your life.  Do you continue life as it is or is there another path. It is a choice between remaining with the known or following God into the unknown of discipleship.

For most of us that choice has never been an option early in our lives. Our faith formation has not encouraged us to seek God’s will by discovering it in the scriptures.  The scriptures are God’s revelation of Himself and clearly gives us a means to respond to that revelation, God reveals His will for us in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. That is evident when Joshua reads from the book of the law and before the Israelites declares “…as for me and my house we will follow the Lord” (Jos. 24:15). It is in the New Testament; the witness of the disciple’s provides us with all we need to know how to respond to the gift of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It is a response that can only happen if we believe and trust in God’s plan for our life.      

It is in the prophets revealing God’s promise to forgive and forget our sins (Jer.31:34) and it is in the New Testaments detailing the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.  It is in the parable of the prodigal son and in God’s promise that He will never forsake us but instead holds us in the palm of His hand.  It is in God’ promise to give us strength for another day and in every word and action of Jesus. We need to heed the words of the church as it encouraged us in the Vatican II documents: to hunger for the word of God as much as we hunger for the Eucharist. 

How often in your teen years are we asked, “what do you want to do with your life.”  But no one ever asks us this question: are you seeking to discover the meaning and purpose God intended you to live now and in the future.  But there is a more important question and that is “what you are doing with the salvation won for you by Christ?”  We need to do more than acknowledge His death removed the barrier of sin which separates us from God. We need to allow God to embrace us with a love so powerful we know we are loved and our sin is removed.  We need to let go of the guilt of all the sins of our past. The scriptures show how to live as a redeemed people.  They show u how God rejoices as we embrace our identity as sons and daughters.  The way Jesus deliberately went to Samaria to offer forgiveness and a new life to the woman at the well is an example of what He desires to do you each of us.

The word of God reveals the intentions of our hearts and how we lack trust in God’s goodness.  It also reveals the intention of God’s heart is greater than our lack of trust. The scriptures show us how God provided us with the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit to overcome all our doubts.  We only need to begin a journey into discipleship by allowing the word to rake root in our hearts.  We need to become that good soil by saying yes to God and proclaim, “let it be done to me according to your word.” To do that we must surrender by responding to the invitation of Christ to die to self and to live for God.