Bài Giảng Tin Mừng Chúa Nhật Thứ 15 Thường Niên- Năm A

Homily 15th Sunday, Ordinary Time, 2014

In the readings today,/ we hear Jesus tell us a parable about the farmer /who sows their seed in the field/. This reading makes me think about one of the stainless window in our church/ and my early live/ when I lived with my grandparents when I was 6.

In the early of 60s, the technology was never been existed in VN, we grew everything by hand, all manpower in the house were used to prepare the field by hand with old fashion tools.

Here, how we sow the seeds. There were number of men must go in front and dig a row of holes in lines. After digging 3 or 4 holes in a row they moved backwards and did the same thing. The sewers stay in front of they and put some seeds in the holes and covers the hole with dust and moves forward.

One day, every one were hurry because they worried of the coming rain. So my aunt put me to work to. After received good instructions from her and did just as she did; put some seeds down to the hole and cover it with dust. Well, it was so easy!, Kid can do it.

Then she gave me a bucket full of corn seeds and I was supposed to put 3 or 4 seeds down in each hole as she instructed me. The first few rows, It was okay, because the every stop working and looking at me to encourage me, but when all of them got back to work… they went faster and faster, so, I tried to work faster to catch-up with them. But the faster I go, more seeds I put on the ground. I emptied the bucket of seeds just in few minutes. Because instead of putting 3 or 4 seeds in the hole, I threw a handful of seeds down in each hole and covered it up, but the seeds were everywhere on the ground but in the holes.... Nice tries….

Well, can you guess what?.

I got laid off for not doing a good job of sowing the seed.



Today, we celebrate Jesus the gardener, who came to sow the seed of God’s word in our world. The fate of that seed depends on the type of soil where it is sown. But the growth of his grace in our lives all depends on how well we are prepared to receive it.

St. Paul assures us that all of creation is in a state of evolutionary growth, to become all that God wants it to be: his own flourishing “Kingdom”. Just as the farmer sowed good seed, so God uses a variety of ways to plant His seed, the Word of God in the soil of our hearts, Our responsibility is to prepare and cultivate the soil of our hearts, so that as we all receive God’s Word, it can grow in us and produce the best possible yield of spiritual fruit.

There are four kinds of soil in the field. Each represents a different condition and determines whether our heart is fickle or fertile.

- 1st type of soil is the path that has been tread on year after year leaving the soil compacted.

Parts of our hearts can be hard, like the path, leaving what falls there exposed. When seeds of God’s Word fall on this hardened path, they are vulnerable. And along comes those birds that eat the seeds. Any opportunity for growth is snatched away. Birds represent the Enemy, working with our flesh and the world, to steal the seeds of God’s truth. They gobble up the truth before it has time to germinate. In place of the seeds, the birds leave thoughts of doubt, discouragement, despair, and distraction.

- The second type of soil is rocky. When the seed is planted there, it sprouts quickly. – But/ these plants have few roots and soon die. It is the Rocks in the soil keeps roots from delving deep into the ground, and so plants cannot receive the nutrients needed to help them become strong and yield fruit. It is the person who receives God’s Word joyfully and lets it spring up. But roots of the Word cannot grow deep, because there are those hard places in our hearts that such as attitude, pride, ignorance, un-forgiveness, addiction, self-righteousness, and priorities that keep us away from the touch of God. If we don’t prepare for adversity by dealing with the hard places in our hearts, then we won’t have the spiritual depth and maturity to overcome and continue growing. We will wither away spiritually.

`- In this third type of soil, the Word of God actually takes root and grows. Yet, as the plants are growing, weeds also sprout and grow alongside these plants and compete for nutrients, and space. The weeds become a threat to the health and maturation of the crop. Weeds are the pitfalls like wealth, worries, temptations, and desires for other things that can choke God’s Word and cause us to be unfruitful.

No matter how carefully a gardener prepares the soil, weeds will pop up during the growing season. Likewise, we all face temptations to sin, regardless of how diligently we prepare our hearts to receive God’s Word.

- In the forth type of soil, the seeds “fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it, will produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23). What Makes for Good Soil? Good soil takes preparation and cultivation. To prepare good soil, gardeners had to work hard on the plot, adding healthy organic matter before planting. But good soil also needs continual work throughout the growing season, whether by turning over hardened areas, or pulling weeds. A Gardener must pay the price to have fertile soil. Likewise, a prepared heart costs something, too.

Our hearts are a lot like soil. In the same way, good doses of practicing God’s Word through spiritual disciplines add richness and spiritual nutrients to our hearts. Further, if we open our heart to understanding God’s Word, then we are willing to face its truths and apply them to our life.

We know, we may need to protect the seed when it’s planted, take a spade to hard areas in our heart, and pull out weeds of sin in order for the Word to flourish. We all have potential like every field can be tilled and prepared to be a better place for the seed of God’s Word to germinate, grow, and yield good fruit. If we are prepared, willing, faithful, and ready to give God the workspace to do His awesome job of multiplication, He produces a yield beyond our expectation: thirty, sixty, and one hundred folds! Think of that potential. God is responsible for the increase. A seed can produce a multiplied impact for God’s Kingdom in our hearts, but only when our hearts are ready to receive it.



- Is the field of our hearts prepared and ready to received the Word of God and make it grow?