Prayer reflection
Lord, in the world today we have become very calculating:
– whatever effort we put out must bring maximum gain;
– what does not bring results we omit altogether;
– we even relate like that in our families, in our Church community, with our friends.
Teach us to look at the sower going out to sow, to see in him how generous you are:
– you don’t mind that some seed falls on the edge of the path and birds come and eat them up;
– or that some fall on patches of rock where they spring up right away but as soon as the sun comes up they are scorched and wither away;
– or that some fall on thorns and are choked by the thorns.
You let all this happen because you know that eventually seeds will fall on rich soil, and will produce their crop, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.
Lord, we thank you for our parents, guardians or carers:
– they were generous with their love;
– they sowed the seeds of care, good advice and their own example.
Often they saw no results as these seeds fell on the edge of the path,
on patches of rock, or among thorns.
But they sowed all the same, and eventually the seeds fell on rich soil
and produced their crop.
Lord, forgive us that we do not give Jesus’ message a chance to go deep into our society:
– we choke it with many compromises;
– we imply that it wasn’t really meant to work,
– that it was only for children, youths or older people.
As a result, it never gets a chance to fall on rich soil,
to touch the generosity and idealism of people,
and so it does not produce the crop it was meant to produce in society.
We pray today for those who work the land, that they may sow like the sower in the parable,
– not mean, calculating or arrogant,
– but trusting the land and respecting its wildness so that it may produce abundant crops.
Lord, we look back on our journey to maturity.
We remember with gratitude how at first we had only a glimmer of light;
we knew very vaguely
– that we wanted to live a life of service;
– that we needed a deep relationship with you;
– that here was the kind of person we wanted to be with for the rest of our lives.
Then, as we needed more clarity, you gave us more, and now we experience abundant peace within ourselves.
Help us to be content with the little faith you give us, knowing that as we need more you will give us more, and when it is time we will have more than enough.
Have mercy on those who cannot trust at all, lest the little chance they may have be taken away.
Lord, help us to feel compassion for those who cannot interpret your parables, to understand that their ears are dull of hearing and they have shut their eyes for fear that they should see with their eyes or hear with their ears, or understand with their hearts;
for it they did, they would have to be converted before they could be healed by you.
Lord, we thank you for the many wonderful things
that our eyes can see and our ears can hear:
– that you created men and women as equal partners;
– that the human family is called to live in harmony;
– that the Church of Jesus Christ is the Church of the poor;
– that all the baptized are fully members of the Church.
We thank you for all the prophets and the holy people who longed to see what we see, but never saw it, to hear what we hear, but never heard it.
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