August 3^rd 2014. Eighteenth  Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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GOSPEL:                                   Matthew 14:13-21
They all ate as much as they wanted.

When Jesus received this news he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.

When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food’. Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves’. But they answered ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish’. ‘Bring them here to me’ he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel from Matthew recounts the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Here we are presented with two different approaches to the problem of hunger. The disciples’ approach is one that looks at the situation in terms of the material resources available. “Let the people go into town and buy food with whatever money they have, and if they have none, let them go hungry”. This “solution” tries to tackle problems in terms of material resources, individual human capacities, whatever people have in their own pockets. Jesus proposes a different solution. First of all he rejects the disciples’ attitude that effectively leaves people to their own devices, eking out survival individually. Instead, Jesus asks that the disciples enter into relationship with the people. “You give them something to eat,” Jesus says. Secondly, Jesus asks that the meager resources that people have be given over to him to be transformed into something infinitely more fruitful. “Bring the five loaves and two fishes to me!” he says. This Gospel has an important message for Christian life. All too often we approach problems with a purely quantitative approach, measuring things in terms of their material value. When a problem presents itself, we ask ourselves if we have the personal capacities or physical resources to deal with the problem. But this approach will never solve human problems effectively! As the first reading says, we must first of all listen to the Lord if we are to manage the resources of this world properly. The material problems we have are often the result of a profound lack of listening to the Lord. Once we put the Lord first, carrying our miserable five loaves and two fishes to him, then he transforms our offering and makes it abundantly fruitful.

The first reading and Gospel both bid us to come and be nourished by the Lord

The first reading and the Gospel are related to each other on two levels. The first reading invites us to eat and drink though we have no money. Just the fact of being near to God is enough to guarantee nutrition. The Gospel from Matthew recounts the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the satisfaction of the multitude who had nothing to eat. The connection between the two passages is obvious, but there is another deeper connection that is worth reflecting on.

Two solutions to hunger: the disciples propose the first solution by saying “Let them feed themselves using their own resources”.

Jesus withdraws to a deserted place but he is soon joined by a multitude. Instead of being annoyed at this, he has compassion on the multitude. How often we are “disturbed” by the requests of those who are in unfortunate circumstances. And how important it is not to be annoyed but to have compassion. The decision is ours whether we allow ourselves to be upset by the requests of others or whether we respond with acts of mercy. After all, these are human beings in moments of need. In the Gospel passage, the compassion of Jesus is the key for understanding how he reacts to the situation. This compassion must be contrasted with the practical spirit of the apostles. They say, “It is already late and this is a lonely place. Allow the people to go into the village to buy themselves something to eat”. Here we are confronted to two solutions to the problems of the people’s hunger. On the one hand we can allow ourselves to be guided by logic and the force of necessity. The people can go into the village and buy whatever they can, depending on how much money they have. It is what is in their pockets that will determine how much, or whether, they will eat. It is not our problem but theirs! In this first solution proposed by the disciples, humanity is left to itself. Humanity, with its own resources, must solve its own problems. Normally, when we are left to ourselves, we try to make our way using our own muscles, our own capacities, our own solutions.

The second solution to hunger is proposed by Jesus: “Enter into relationship with those who hunger. Share your resources and allow them to be transformed by me”.

Jesus proposes a different solution that represents something novel breaking into history. “It is not necessary that they go into the village”. The disciples thought they were being very logical in pointing out that it was absolutely necessary that the people go into the village to buy food. Jesus shows how important it is to battle against our mental conceptions of necessity. Until we learn to contest our assumptions about what we are bound to do, we will not be capable of seeing the solutions that God proposes for our problems. Jesus says to the disciples, “You give them something to eat”. What Jesus is saying here is that there is another solution besides letting everyone look after themselves with their own resources, and the solution begins by entering into relationship with others. The disciples respond by giving Jesus a cold numerical analysis of the situation: “All we have are five loaves and two fishes”. How often we judge our situation in terms of how much we own, in terms of possessions, in terms of material resources. But we are more than what we have in our pockets! When we are in relation with God we are much more than our material resources. Our material resources are transformed by God.

We tend to respond to our problems by looking at the material resources we have available. But this Gospel shows us that the amount of those resources is secondary. What is primary is to entrust what we have to the Lord

Jesus says, “Bring the loaves and fishes to me! If this is all you have, then give them to me!” There is a kind of triangular relationship here which is curious. The crowd have this meagre amount to eat. The disciples must enter into relationship with the crowd, but they must hand the resources over to Jesus in order that they might be fruitful. We tend to calculate our resources in logical terms,  measuring the quantity of material things or physical capacities that we have at hand. But when these things are handed over to Christ, when we enter into relationship with him and respond to his demand, “Bring them to me!” then how things are transformed! The five loaves and two fishes did not come from Christ but from the people. But when Christ took these things then the people ate and were satisfied. This is how the Church goes on and how we live out discipleship.

Eating food and listening to the word of God might seem like different things, but they are deeply related. Our management of the resources of this world must be guided by a profound listening to the word of God. Only then will the resources of this world become truly fruitful and succeed in feeding the hungry

Let us return now to the first reading from Isaiah and consider again the deeper level of relationship between it and the Gospel. There is a strange phrase: “Listen to me and you will eat good things”. But surely listening and eating are different actions altogether? Jesus, however, quoted scripture during his temptation when he said, “Man does not leave on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. There is a relation between listening to God and eating, between bread and the word. Often our problems and economic crises derive from a profound lack of listening by humanity to the truth. When the human being places himself in a relationship with God, handing his resources over to the Lord, then those resources become truly fruitful. 

July 27^th 2014. Seventeenth  Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 13:44-52

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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GOSPEL:                                   Matthew 13:44-52
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use. This is how it will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

‘Have you understood all this?’ They said, ‘Yes’. And he said to them, ‘Well then, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old’.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The readings this Sunday are all about discernment. The Lord promises Solomon whatever gift he chooses. Solomon does not ask simply for the ability to choose between right and wrong but for a docile heart that knows how to choose. The original Hebrew text speaks of a “listening heart”. Listening and obedience come from the same verb in Hebrew. To be obedient to the Lord is not to mechanically follow instructions but to listen to him profoundly. This is the essential issue when it comes to discernment. Discernment is not an innate ability like the capacity to pick up foreign languages easily. Rather it derives from a relationship with the Lord in which the person humbly listens to what the Lord is saying. Thus it involves an intimate relationship of trust and cohesion with the Lord.

            The Gospel reading contains a series of parables about the Kingdom of Heaven in which people renounce worldly things and opt for the Kingdom. In the first parable, a man sells everything he owns to buy the field in which the treasure of the Kingdom is hidden. What is important to note in this parable is the joy with which the man sells everything he owns in order to buy that field. Christianity involves the renunciation of worldly things in order to possess the Kingdom of God. There is no getting away from this – Christianity involves a choice! The problem is that we often tend to focus on the pain of losing these worldly things. We make renunciations, but we do so with a long face and bitter complaints. We become fixated with the sacrifices involved in the Christian life and lose sight of the infinite joy that those sacrifices bring. Woe to us if our Christianity is preoccupied with prescriptions for the sacrifices we have to make! Woe to us if we do not contemplate on a daily basis the beauty and joy of belonging to Christ! Let us opt for him like the man who sells everything to buy the field in which the treasure is hidden. And like that man, let us be filled with joy as we go to possess that field!

On Sunday we are challenged to reflect on the issue of discernment

This Sunday presents us with beautiful passages in the first reading and in the Gospel. The reading from Matthew has a series of short parables – the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price, the fisherman who selects the best fish, and the householder who brings out of his storeroom things old and new. The unified theme of these parables is clearly the question of discernment. We find the same theme in the first reading. Solomon is about to become king and the Lord appears to him, asking him to choose whatever gift he would like. Solomon asks for the gift of discernment. Discernment is something we exercise in every moment of our lives. The decision to speak, to remain silent, to act, to refrain from acting, to dress in certain way, to go to the places we go – life involves a constant succession of acts of discernment. When a particular decision is made, this often excludes or eliminates all other possibilities. Those possibilities can never be realized in that same moment again. The capacity for good discernment is of incredible importance.

Solomon does not ask simply for the gift of discernment. He asks for the gift of a listening, obedient heart that is capable of discernment. Discernment thus involves a relationship of trust and cohesion with the Lord.

Solomon asks the Lord for a docile heart so that he can discern between good and evil and so render justice to God’s people. It is a remarkable fact that Solomon did not directly ask for a heart that could make the distinction between good and evil. He asked for a heart that was docile enough so that he could make this distinction. This highlights the fact that discernment is not a capacity that one can have independently of everything else in the same way as one can be talented at sport or at music. It involves docility and this indicates a relationship. The original Hebrew text of this passage says “Give me a heart that knows how to listen”. In Hebrew the term for hearing and being obedient are one and the same. Solomon asks for a heart that is attentive and obedient to the Lord, what a marvelous thing! Obedience in the Hebrew Bible is not a logical, mechanical attitude but a deep and profound listening to the creator. It involves entering into an authentic relationship with the Lord. A heart that is docile is one that listens and knows how to behave accordingly. God praises Solomon because he has asked for a gift greater than all others.

To gain the treasure that is the Kingdom of Heaven, a man sells everything that he owns. The Christian life involves renunciations of lesser goods in order to possess what is infinitely greater. These renunciations should be joyful! Woe to us if we focus only on the personal renunciations of Christianity and do not contemplate the joyful treasure that we gain.

In the Gospel, a man sells all he owns because he has found a treasure. This man knows how to choose between his possessions and the treasure and he is filled with joy as a result. This is a fundamental image of the Christian life. The Christian life involves a series of renunciations. Consecrated life involves a vow of poverty, but in reality the life of every Christian requires an attitude of sobriety and poverty towards the goods of this world. But this should not make us sad. The man in the parable is full of joy as he sells all his possessions in order to gain the treasure. The things that we give away only create the conditions by which we can receive the good things that the Lord wants to bestow on us. Woe to us if we transform all of this into renunciation and sacrifice, focusing only on the cost to us and failing to contemplate the joy and the wonder of the treasure gained.

This Sunday we are challenged to sharpen our interior discernment, to make decisions that lead to  the joy of the kingdom instead of allowing trivial “joys” to dictate our choices

The liturgy of the word this Sunday challenges us to sharpen the focus of our interior discernment. What is good? What is true? What gives us real joy? Often we pursue joys that are deceptive. Often we make criminal choices in which we opt for something empty and lose something of genuine worth. Many people gamble with things of value in order to have five minutes of pleasure, or to advance their career by a few steps. How many of us have trivial things at heart! Let us ask the question: what do we have at the centre of our hearts? This determines the choices we make. If we wish to become disciples of the Kingdom of Heaven then we must become like the householder who knows how to discern what to retain between the old and the new. Our ability to discern can only come from a relationship of obedient listening to the Lord, from a relationship of trust that permits us to see what truly counts and what is of secondary importance.

July 20^th 2014. SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Matthew 13:24-43

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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GOSPEL:                                                       Matthew 13:24-43
Jesus put a parable before the crowds, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” “Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”

He put another parable before them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’

He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through’.

In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy:
I will speak to you in parables
and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.

Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us’. He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . When read together, the three parables in Sunday’s Gospel reveal the wholly positive nature of Jesus’ presentation of the kingdom of God. The master sows wheat in the field, but an enemy sows poisonous darnel while everyone is sleeping. This is symptomatic of each of our lives. We have been doubly planted: God has sown the good seed in us, but the evil one plants negative suggestions in our hearts on a daily basis. Why does the master in the parable not permit the servants to remove the darnel from the wheat before harvest time? Because the master knows that the good seed will come to fruition anyway. It is a wrong emphasis to be preoccupied with the negative elements in our lives. These things will wither and die if we focus our attention completely on the wonderful elements that the Holy Spirit has planted within us! The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast emphasize the power of the good seed that has been gifted to us. The mustard seed begins from nothing and becomes the finest shrub in the garden. The yeast is only a tiny constituent of the ingredients for the bread, but it has a huge influence on the final product. In the same way, the good seed that the Lord has planted in us will eliminate all the negative aspects from our lives if we only concentrate on it and allow it to come to fruition.

The three parables in the Gospel must be understood in the light of the fact that God’s principal concern is for our good

The parable of the darnel always goes hand in hand with the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast. The first reading provides us with a key with which we can understand the unity of the three parables. This beautiful reading from the Book of Wisdom tells us how God cares for everything. His power is displayed in the way that he indulges everyone. In what does this “indulgence” consist? It regards the way in which God confronts our errors and frailty. The principle by which the Lord governs the universe is a principle of mildness, a principle of seeking our pardon and reconciliation. This is the key with which we must approach the three parables.

Throughout life we are the target of good inspiration from the Holy Spirit and negative suggestions from the evil one. How should we respond to this fact? Should we be focus on weeding out the negative elements?

The master sows the good wheat in the field, but bad seed is sown by the enemy when everyone is asleep. This is an image of what can happen when there is distraction and a lack of vigilance. It is profoundly true that in each of our lives there is a double sowing. We receive the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but we also receive the suggestions and disturbances of the spirit who is the enemy of humanity. Our lives go on amid this mixture of inspiration and disturbance. The inspirations are illuminating and lucid, whilst the suggestions are tortuous and anything but clear. Our hearts are the arena in which this drama plays itself out. The master’s priority is to salvage the good seed, whilst the servants are more preoccupied with rooting out the darnel. But the act of trying to weed these negative suggestions out of the heart of man is futile. The suggestions of the evil one will always be present in our lives. An overriding preoccupation with weeding out the darnel is a waste of time. It is also risky because it can be sometimes quite difficult to distinguish the suggestions of temptation from true inspiration.

The good seed of God has the power to overcome all our defects. We do not need to focus on those defects in an obsessive way. Let us just focus on this wonderful seed that God has placed in the heart of each of us. It will produce a rich harvest if we only allow it!

The two parables that follow are wholly positive, and in this way they throw light on the parable of the wheat and the darnel. The mustard seed is incredibly small, but when it comes to fruition, it produces the largest of the shrubs. In the same way, a tiny bit of yeast in the bread mixture has an enormous impact on the end product. What these parables reveal is that the good seed from God has a power of its own that will overcome everything else. We do not need to be fixated on perfectionism and the rooting out of errors. What we need to do is to be ever more focused on the good seed. We all have defects and fragilities in our lives. We waste our time if we focus on the elimination of these elements, because they tend to keep coming back. It is much wiser to concentrate on the good seed, on the power of this yeast in our lives that has been given to us as a gift. Left to ourselves, we tend to face good and evil off in bloody confrontations, but it is much wiser to focus on the good, allowing evil to die of hunger. The evil elements in our lives will shrink through lack of attention if we only focus on the good. The master says, “Trust in my work! Allow the good seed to come to fruition and you will see that the harvest will be great!” We must look at the good qualities in others, not at their defects. When bad things happen to us, we must not focus on the suffering but on the good consequences that result. The human being always carries within him the good seed, and we must look constantly to it. God is indulgent with everyone, as the first reading says, because he knows that everyone is well endowed with something beautiful and good. Even the person who has done the greatest wrong in the world still carries the good seed within him, and this is what God looks for in him – the fruit of that good seed.

JULY 13^th 2014. FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

GOSPEL: Matthew 13:1-23

From a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio.

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GOSPEL:                                     Matthew 13:1-23

Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.

He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

Then the disciples went up to him and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’ ‘Because’ he replied ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them. For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled:

You will listen and listen again, but not understand,
see and see again, but not perceive.
For the heart of this nation has grown coarse,
their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes,
for fear they should see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and be converted
and be healed by me.

‘But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.

‘You, therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once. The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing. And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD:   Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Kieran’s summary . . . The first reading tells us that word of God is always effective, but the Gospel tells us that the seed often falls on unreceptive soil. Is this a contradiction? Let us consider first the meaning of the parable. Jesus explains the parable by quoting Isaiah who tells how peoples’ ears become dull and whose eyes fail to see. What is it that stops our ears and eyes from receiving the word of God?  What we see and what we hear does not simply depend on our ears and our eyes. When we sleep, we are able to block out much of what we would normally hear. A mother is able to hear her baby’s cry amid all kinds of other sounds. It is our hearts that disctate what we hear and what we see. There is a constant process of selection going on and sometimes we can “see” things that are not there at all, or fail to see what is in front of our eyes. If our heart is attached to something, then we can fail to be alive to other things that are not related to that thing. We fail to receive the word of God because our hearts are turned in on themselves and are closed to God. But the word of God is still effective! When our hearts are closed, we become miserable; we lack the saving word that seeks to penetrate our hearts. This misery causes us eventually to seek the Lord and open our hearts to him.

The first reading states that the word of the Lord is always fruitful, but the Parable of the Sower seems to indicate that it is usually not fruitful. How do we resove this contradiction?

The first reading from the Propher Isaiah states that the word that goes out from the mouth of the Lord does not return to him empty without fulfilling what it was sent to do. This seems to be contradicted by the Parable of the Sower that appears in the Gospel. According to the parable, the seed that is sown fails to come to fruition in three cases out of four. How can we resolve this apparent contradiction?

The seed itself is potent. It is the ground that is the problem. But what exactly is the problem?

First of all we note that the problem with the seed does not rest on the side of God. In the case where the seed does come to fruition, it produces a hundredfold. Thus the seed has great potency. The problem lies in the way that it is received. The word of God does not force itself upon anyone. We can learn more about the message of this parable if we consider the way in which it is presented to us by Matthew. First of all, Jesus recounts the parable. Then there is a discussion with the disciples. Finally the parable is explained. A parable, thus, is not something whose meaning is immediately understood. It is something which stumlates reflection and contemplation. Pope John Paul II said once that when God speaks to us, it is always in parables. Jesus made use of the unlimited possibilities presented to him by creation in order to communicate his message to us in analogical terms. But, as the quote from Isaiah in the middle of the Gospel emphasizes, we do not understand what the Lord is saying to us because our ears are dull and our eyes are shut.

What is it that stops us from hearing and seeing? Is the problem with our ears and our eyes?

The quote from Isaiah mentions the hearts, ears and eyes of the ones who do not understand the word of God. What does it mean to say that the eyes do not see and the ears do not hear? The eyes and ears are the two principle senses used for human communication. The human being does not have a highly developed power of vision. Many animals have a much greater capacity in this regard. But our cerebral faculties are very well developed. We are capable of elaborating extensively on what we have seen. Sometimes, in fact, our minds are so dominant that we “see” things that are not there, or we fail to see the things that are there. In the same way we can fail to hear with our ears. When we sleep, our minds select the things that are heard and block out much of the rest. Spouses sometimes fail to hear things of a certain repetitive type that they say to each other. Some mothers are able to perceive the cry of their baby at a great distance whilst remaining impervious to other noises.

It is our hearts that ultimately select what our eyes see and our ears hear. If this heart is attached to something, then we fail to hear or see anything else

Not to hear with the ears means to have a faculty of hearing that is selective, and it is selective because at the root of the problem is an insensitive heart that does not wish to understand. The text describes this heart as something coarse, thick, and stupid. This heart that does not listen is something with no life inside. We have an incredible, frightening, capacity to put a stop to the action of God within us. If our heart closes itself, if it becomes attached to something, then we fail to see everything else; we fail to understand anything. The heart is the central issue. This parable tackles the problem of the reception of the word of God and it tells us that the solution lies in our heart. When things start going wrong in our lives, we tend to focus on everything else except that which is most essential, and that is the heart. Ultimately, everything depends on our heart. If I close my heart, then God cannot enter.

The word of God is always effective because even if I reject it initially, I will put myself in a condition of unhappiness that will lead me to seek salvation

The potent seed of the word of God fails to penetrate my senses if my heart is turned in on itself. But as the word runs off me, I am left unhappy and ill at ease. This unhappiness at my separation from the salvific word of God is the road that ultimately leads me to open my heart to God. When my heart is turned in on itself, I suffer, and ultimately this prompts me to open my heart. Thus the word of God always fulfils its task in the end. If I welcome it, it saves me. But even if I reject it, I become miserable and sooner or later this prompts me to ask the questions that will lead to the opening of my heart to the Lord. The good Lord knows that I have great need to be in a constant mature relationship with my heart

JULY 6^th 2014. FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

GOSPEL: Matthew 11:25-30

From a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio.

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GOSPEL:                                     Matthew 11:25-30

Jesus exclaimed,
‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.

Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD:      Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

DON FABIO’S HOMILY HAS NOT BEEN BROADCAST THIS WEEK