Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A
Commentary of the day
Homily attributed to Saint Macarius of Egypt (?-390), monk
No.24, 4 ; PG 34, 662
"Until the whole batch was leavened"
If someone kneads bread without mixing leaven into it, they may well apply themselves to the task, knead and work at it, the dough will not rise and can’t be used as food. But when leaven has been mixed in it draws all the dough to itself and makes it all rise, as in the parable the Lord applied to the Kingdom… It is the same with meat: no matter how much care you take, if you neglect to put in salt to preserve it,… it will smell bad and become uneatable. In the same sort of way, imagine the whole of humanity as meat or dough and that the divine nature of the Holy Spirit is salt and leaven from another world. If the heavenly leaven of the Spirit and good salt of the divine nature… are not added to our lowly human nature and mixed into it, the soul will never lose its bad odor of sin and will not rise by losing the heaviness and impurities of the “leaven of wickedness” (1Cor 5,7)…
If a soul only relies on its own strength and thinks itself able to achieve complete success of itself, without the help of the Holy Spirit, it is greatly deceived. It is not made for the dwelling places of heaven nor made for the Kingdom… If sinful man does not draw near to God, does not renounce the world, does not await in hope and patience a good that is foreign to its own nature, namely the strength of the Holy Spirit; if the Lord does not instil his own divine life from on high into that soul, that person will never taste the true life… On the other hand, if he has received the Spirit’s grace, if he does not turn away from it, if he does not offend him by his negligence and wrongdoing, if, after persevering a long time like this in the fight, he does not “grieve the Spirit” (Eph 4,30), he will have the happiness of winning eternal life.
GOSPEL COMMENTARY MT 13:1-23
'Whoever has ears ought to hear’
Fr. Robert Wagner
In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples the parable of the sower and the seed, which He concludes with the following: “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Taken literally, the warning makes little sense. Can a man command his ears to hear, any more than he can command his nose to smell or his eyes to see? Hearing is what ears do, whether we want them to or not.
That being said, we recognize that there are different types of “hearing.” Even though our ears pick up everything they can, many sounds do not even register in our thoughts. Some are ignored because they hold no immediate importance to us, like the whir of an air conditioner. Others register in our minds, but are ignored because we disregard their urgency. We have all been guilty of such selective hearing, when someone speaks to us but we do not focus on what they are saying.
Jesus does not want us to fall into that trap when we hear His divine teaching. “Whoever has ears, ought to hear” applies to all Jesus says, and it is particularly fitting for the parable of the sower and the seed, whose subject is hearing and responding to the “word of the kingdom,” which is the Gospel message. We, like those disciples following Jesus in Galilee, certainly hear what He teaches about listening to the divine truth, but in order to bear a harvest of 30-, 60-, or 100-fold, it takes more than just hearing. It requires taking the words to heart and putting them into action.
How do we do this as Christ's disciples? First and foremost, truly hearing the message of Jesus takes faith. We as His disciples must believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. If we treat His as just one of many voices we follow to guide us, we will be distracted by the noise of the world and selectively hear the truths He reveals in His words and the teaching of His church. In such a situation, we will be tempted to ignore some of the harder truths He teaches, and less willing to live sacrificially when the world offers a teaching that is much easier to hear and follow. It is only when we recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd and place our faith in the truth He offers for our salvation that we are able to hear with our ears, our minds and our hearts.
Secondly, we need to place ourselves into a position to hear the words Jesus speaks to us. It is much easier to listen when we are in a quiet room and totally focusing on the person speaking to us. Much more difficult would be a conversation in a loud restaurant, surrounded by televisions that distract us, while we simultaneously attempt to flag down a waiter. Likewise, listening to the word of Jesus — in prayer, at Mass, reading scripture, etc. — requires that we remove the distractions we can and focus our attention on what He is telling us. We do this by making an effort — depending on our situation, sometimes an extraordinary effort — to arrive at Mass early so we have time to settle into our pews and settle our hearts and minds with prayer before the opening hymn begins. We do this by finding a quiet place where we will not be easily distracted when we pray our rosary or read Scripture or examine our conscience. We do this by choosing a time of day when we are as alert as possible to pray or do our spiritual reading, knowing this will allow us to focus more easily on what Jesus wants to speak to us.
God has a message of peace, love and salvation for each and every one of us. It is a message that will set our hearts aflame and provide guidance and light for our path to eternal life. Let us make the effort to listen with ears, minds and hearts that are attentive to His voice. May God increase our faith so we may trust what He tells us so that we as His disciples may bear harvests of 30-, 60- and 100-fold.
Fr. Wagner is Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde’s secretary.