We Reap what we Sow
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
“People will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.”Luke 13:29
This is why the saying goes, if you don’t like what you reap, check what it is you sow. This should lead us Christians to review well, because we are called to be saints, that is, happy, full of love, and peace; we should be, and if we are not, it is because something is seriously failing. What do we sow? What food are we giving to our souls?
If one wants to be an architect, he will have to go to an architecture college and soak up as much knowledge as he can about that area. He will not end up being an architect if he goes to study medicine or biology. We can meditate: what do we listen more to, to the world without faith or to the Church of Christ? What are we filling our minds more with, paganism or truths of faith? We will reap what we sow.
They say that the mind is like a mill that will give you according to what you put into it. If you put stones, you will get gravel; if you put wheat, flour. What do we let in more in us: wheat of God or tares and lies? If we want to be saints, we cannot nourish ourselves with lies and spend ourselves thinking about sin, because that will be what we will sow.
If we want to live our Christian vocation, our new life in Christ, we should manage to nourish our soul with the food that He himself offers us by his Word and by the Church that is guided by himself. On the contrary, we will not reach the goal we want to reach. It would be like going to the wrong college. If I want to achieve sainthood, I must look for what helps me to achieve that goal, listen to what brings me closer to it, and move away from what prevents and hinders me.
If I want to win a swimming medal, I’m not going to train in boxing every day, because that’s not what will make me a better swimmer. What can we do to get closer to the ideal that God calls us to? If we listen to the devil and the world we will not improve. On the contrary, we will continue to move further and further away from the goal. If we want to follow Christ, we must listen to Him, through his messengers, his Priests and preachers, in his Church.
“My sheep listen to my voice and follow me.”John 10
But it shouldn’t surprise us that we don’t love him more or come closer to holiness, if instead of listening to Him, we listen much more to people without God and without faith, world and our flesh. It shouldn’t be surprising that the one who was training in boxing lost the swimming competition; it’s natural that the one who got into listening about biology didn’t pass the architecture exam. If we listen all day to the world, it is natural that we think like the world and do not have the wisdom to God.
“Therefore, brothers, I beseech you by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your rational worship. And do not adapt to this world, but transform yourselves by renewing your mind, so that you may verify what is the will of God: what is good, acceptable and perfect.”Romans 12
Readings for the Week
Monday: Vigil: 1 Chr 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2; Ps 132:6-7, 9-10, 13-14; 1 Cor 15:54b-57; Lk 11:27-28 Day: Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Ps 45:10-12, 16; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56
Tuesday: Ez 28:1-10; Dt 32:26-28, 30, 35cd-36ab; Mt 19:23-30
Wednesday: Ez 34:1-11; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 20:1-16
Thursday: Ez 36:23-28; Ps 51:12-15, 18-19; Mt 22:1-14
Friday: Ez 37:1-14; Ps 107:2-9; Mt 22:34-40
Saturday: Ez 43:1-7ab; Ps 85:9ab, 10-14; Mt 23:1-12
Sunday: Is 66:18-21; Ps 117:1, 2; Heb 12:5-7, 11-13; Lk 13:22-30
Saints & Special Observances
Sunday: Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Tuesday: St. Stephen of Hungary
Friday: St. John Eudes