Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 30, 2019
On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
A very large crowd gathered around him
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables,
and in the course of his instruction he said to them,
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
And when he was alone,
those present along with the Twelve
questioned him about the parables.
He answered them,
“The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”
Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”
In the hustle and bustle of my classroom, you might hear me say, “Now, as your partner reads aloud to you, what are you doing?” A chorus of second-grade voices would respond, “Reading with our eyes and with our ears!” I value this reading strategy because students often miss out on the text’s meaning, despite their ability to track physical words on a page or string together long, difficult words. Hearing each word allows students to access the content in an additional way. With both their eyes and ears engaged, they are more ready to understand the text.
Yet today’s Gospel reminds us that understanding God’s word requires more than just our eyes and ears. Jesus warns his followers that people can “look and see but not perceive,” and they can “hear and listen but not understand.” We understand God’s word not through the eyes or ears but through the heart—a heart ready to accept God’s word and live it.
How often do I listen to Scripture during Mass while my heart is still closed to the deeper truth being spoken to me? The seemingly simple truth that “God loves me” appears in the Bible verses and conversations. I even repeat the words to my students in a Sunday school song. But in moments I experience deep loneliness, aimlessly search for approval in unhealthy relationships, or grieve the sudden loss of a family member do I understand God’s love? Do I understand the depth and meaning of this divine love for me?
God is a generous sower, but we must cultivate “rich soil” for the seeds to take root and grow into something beautiful. Let us seek to understand by receiving God’s word with our eyes, ears, and most importantly, our hearts.
Prayer
Lord, your saving Word takes root in those who hear and accept it, those who do good and are upright. Help us to find your way of sincerity, patience, and truth. May we always be humble in seeking your way. Enable our faith to be filled with the blessing of charity in all things, that we might bear fruit a hundredfold. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Blessed Margaret Ball was a wealthy laywoman in sixteenth-century Dublin who was arrested during a persecution of Catholics by her own son, who sent her to prison in Dublin Castle, where she eventually died.
Margaret Ball was born in 1515 in County Meath, which neighbors County Dublin, in Ireland’s eastern province of Leinster. Her family—the Berminghams—were originally from England, as their name suggests. They emigrated to Ireland and became landed Irish gentry when her father purchased a farm. The Berminghams were fairly politically active and staunch supporters of the Catholic cause as a Protestant government began to form.
In 1531, when she was sixteen, Margaret married Bartholomew Ball, a city councilman in Dublin. The Balls were a wealthy Dublin family and Bartholomew was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1553.
Margaret and Bartholomew had ten children, five of whom survived into adulthood, and lived comfortably in their fine home in the city. Margaret oversaw the education of not only her own children but of many other children throughout the city, holding classes for them in her home.
In 1558, when Elizabeth I ascended the throne of her two kingdoms of England and Ireland, she reversed her sister Mary I’s declaration of Catholicism as the state religion. Her Religious Settlement of 1558 declared the throne the head of the Church in England and decreed that all Elizabeth’s subjects attend worship at a Church of England, using the Book of Common Prayer, each Sunday. Obviously, then, attending a Catholic Mass was now illegal, which led to the arrest and persecution of Catholic clergy, religious sisters and brothers and lay Catholics.
During this tumultuous time, Margaret and Bartholomew provided a safe haven in Dublin for many priests.
Not all members of the Ball family were still committed to their Catholic faith. Margaret’s eldest son, Walter, for instance, embraced Elizabeth I's reversal. In 1580, he took over as Lord Mayor of Dublin and promptly arrested his sixty-five-year-old mother and had her carried to the dungeons beneath Dublin Castle. The rest of the family demanded Margaret’s release, but Walter stubbornly refused, unless Margaret took the Oath of Supremacy which recognized Elizabeth I as head of the Church.
Walter’s younger brother, Nicholas, brought his mother food and clothing and took care of her while she was in prison. Nicholas became Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1582 after his brother was promoted to Commissioner of Ecclesiastical Causes. Nicholas could still not free his mother, despite his new power, as Walter had royal oversight over religious matters and would not allow him to release Margaret.
Margaret died in 1584, after enduring the rank air and damp cold of Dublin prisons with a strong spirit. All her property after her death still went to Walter, as she never once changed the terms of her will.
Margaret was beatified in September 1992 by Pope John Paul II, in a group of seventeen Irish martyrs.
The image above is a photo by Connell McCabe of a statue of Margaret and Blessed Francis Taylor (a martyr beatified by John Paul II in the same group as Margaret) that stands outside the St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin.
Blessed Margaret Ball, loving mother and brave martyr for the Catholic faith—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Margaret Ball is available for use under a Creative Commons license. Last accessed November 15, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
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