Letters From Home

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. Scott Hahn.

Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com

Readings:
Wisdom 12:13, 16–19
Psalm 86:5–6, 9–10, 15–16
Romans 8:26–27
Matthew 13:24–43

God is always teaching His people, as we hear in today’s First Reading.

And what does He want us to know? That He has care for all of us; that though He is a God of justice, even those who defy and disbelieve Him may hope for His mercy if they turn to Him in repentance.

This divine teaching continues in the three parables that Jesus tells in the Gospel today. Each describes the emergence of the kingdom of God from the seeds sown by His works and preaching. The kingdom’s growth is hidden like the working of yeast in bread; it’s improbable, unexpected, as in the way the tall mustard tree grows from the smallest of seeds.

Again, this week’s readings sound a note of questioning: Why does God permit the evil to grow alongside the good? Why does He permit some to reject the Word of His kingdom?

Because, as we sing in today’s Psalm, God is slow to anger and abounding in kindness. He is just, Jesus assures us—evildoers and those who cause others to sin will be thrown into the fiery furnace at the end of the age. But by His patience God is teaching us that above all He desires repentance and the gathering of all nations to worship Him and to glorify His name.

Even though we don’t know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit will intercede for us, Paul promises in today’s Epistle. But first, we must turn and call upon Him. We must commit ourselves to letting the good seed of His Word bear fruit in our lives.

So, we should not be deceived or lose heart when we see weeds among the wheat—truth and holiness mixed with error, injustice, and sin.

For now, He makes His sun rise on the good and the bad (see Matthew 5:45). But the harvest draws near. Let’s work so that we might be numbered among the righteous children—who will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father.

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene by Mr. Clement Harrold.

Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. John Bergsma.

Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time by Ms. Joan Watson.

Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. John Bergsma.

Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. Shane Owens.

Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time by Dr. Scott Hahn.

Learn more about the Mass at www.stpaulcenter.com

Lecturas:
Isaías 55, 10–11
Salmo 65, 10–14
Romanos 8, 18–23
Mateo 13, 1–23

Las lecturas de hoy, como las de la semana anterior, nos invitan a meditar en la respuesta de Israel a la Palabra de Dios y también en nuestra propia respuesta. ¿Porqué algunos de los que escuchan la palabra del reino, aún no la aceptan como llamada a la conversión y a la fe en Jesús? Esa pregunta subyace de manera especial en el Evangelio de hoy.

Nuevamente vemos, como la semana pasada, que los misterios del reino son revelados a los que abren sus corazones, haciendo de ellos tierra fértil en la que la Palabra puede crecer y dar frutos.

Como cantamos en el salmo de este domingo, en Jesús la Palabra de Dios ha visitado nuestra tierra, para empapar el suelo pedregoso de nuestros corazones con las aguas vivas del Espíritu (cf. Jn 7,38; Ap 22,1).

Como San Pablo nos recuerda en la epístola de esta semana (cf. Rm 5,5; 8,15–16) la primicia de la Palabra es el Espíritu de amor y adopción derramado en nuestros corazones en el bautismo, que nos hizo hijos de Dios. En él somos hechos una “nueva creación” (cf. 2 Co 5,17), primicias de un cielo nuevo y una tierra nueva (cf. 2P 3,13).

Desde que los primeros hombres rechazaron la Palabra de Dios, la creación ha sido esclavizada de lo vano (cf. Gn 3,17–19; 5.29). Pero la Palabra de Dios no sale para volver a Él sin resultado, como escuchamos en la primera lectura del domingo.

Su Palabra espera nuestra respuesta. Debemos demostrar que somos hijos de esa Palabra. Debemos permitir que esa Palabra realice la voluntad de Dios en nuestras vidas. Como Jesús nos advierte, debemos cuidar que no sea arrebatada por el diablo o ahogada por las preocupaciones mundanas.

En la Eucaristía, Jesús, la Palabra, se nos da a Sí mismo como pan que alimenta. Lo hace para que podamos ser fértiles, dando frutos de santidad.

Y así esperamos la coronación del año, la gran cosecha del Día del Señor (cf. Mc 4,29; 2P 3,10; Ap 14,15), cuando Su Palabra haya alcanzado el fin para el cual fue enviada.

Readings:
Isaiah 55:10–11
Psalm 65:10–14
Romans 8:18–23
Matthew 13:1–23

Today’s readings, like last week’s, ask us to meditate on Israel’s response to God’s Word—and our own. Why do some hear the word of the kingdom, yet fail to accept it as a call to conversion and faith in Jesus? That question underlies today’s Gospel especially.

Again, we see, as we did last week, that the kingdom’s mysteries are unfolded to those who open their hearts, making of them a rich soil in which the Word can grow and bear fruit.

As we sing in today’s Psalm, in Jesus, God’s Word has visited our land to water the stony earth of our hearts with the living waters of the Spirit (see John 7:38; Revelation 22:1).

The first fruit of the Word is the Spirit of love and adoption poured into our hearts in Baptism, making us children of God, as Paul reminds us in today’s Epistle (see Romans 5:5; 8:15-16). In this, we are made a “new creation” (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), the first fruits of a new heaven and a new earth (see 2 Peter 3:13).

Since the first humans rejected God’s Word, creation has been enslaved to futility (see Genesis 3:17–19; 5:29). But God’s Word does not go forth only to return to Him void, as we hear in today’s First Reading.

His Word awaits our response. We must show ourselves to be children of that Word. We must allow that Word to accomplish God’s will in our lives. As Jesus warns today, we must take care lest the devil steals it away or lest it be choked by worldly concerns.

In the Eucharist, the Word gives Himself to us as bread to eat. He does so that we might be made fertile, yielding fruits of holiness.
And we await the crowning of the year, the great harvest of the Lord’s Day (see Mark 4:29; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 1:10)—when His Word will have achieved the end for which it was sent.