Daily Gospel Reflection

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July 16, 2023

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mt 13:1-23
Listen to the Audio Version

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some 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.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The disciples approached him and said,
“Why do you speak to them in parables?”
He said to them in reply,
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted,
and I heal them.

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

“Hear then the parable of the sower.
The seed sown on the path is the one
who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it,
and the evil one comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

Reflection

Ian Gerdon ’17, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Theology/University Writing Program
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In the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout—who was born just a few hours down Route
31 from Notre Dame—the misanthropic detective once offered a rare compliment to an
observant police officer: “You not only have eyes, you know what they are for.”

Eyes are not just for glancing: they’re for noticing, peering, seeing. So Jesus blesses his
disciples for doing just that: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see.” But even observant eyes need something to see.

Jesus says, “righteous people longed to see” but did not. With Jesus, the time has come to take notice. Now, “The Word is abroad,” as the poet Geoffrey Hill put it: the Word is abroad in history, guiding the world to the end God has planned for it; the Word is abroad in human hearts, transforming them.

Still, hearts are not impregnable. From some, the Word is stolen, lost, or withered, and
they do not see. How can we, amidst fears and distractions, hold the Word in our hearts so that it bears fruit?

An answer was proposed long ago by the bishop Caesarius of Arles, in the fear and distraction of the early Middle Ages: “As singing the psalms, brethren, is like sowing a field, so praying is like one who sows burying and covering the ground again by cultivating it… unless the one who scatters the seeds of the word of God in his heart by chanting or reading afterward stores them up in his heart by prayer and, in a way, buries them, the birds come—that is, the fleeting, useless, idle thoughts of this world—and carry off what had been sown in the heart.”

The conversations we have with God when we linger for a moment over his Word are
how we hold that Word in our heart so it cannot be taken from us—so that it can transform us
and, Caesarius says, causes “a harvest of divine mercy to grow in the field of [our] heart.” That is the end for which God sends the Word abroad; that is what eyes are for.

Prayer

Rev. Thomas O’Hara, C.S.C.

Lord God, we give thanks to all who planted and toiled in the fields to produce the food that will nourish us this day. Help us similarly to plant and sow seeds of compassion, love and forgiveness to all whom we encounter this day. Be with us Lord as we sow these seeds of Your goodness, for you are our One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Saint of the Day

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is a title given to Mary as patron of the Carmelite religious community of contemplative monks, nuns, and priests.

The original Carmelites were hermits living on Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land in the late 12th century. They chose Mt. Carmel because it is the place where the Old Testament prophet Elijah defended the purity of Israel’s faith. The monks built a chapel on the mount and dedicated it to “our lady of the place.”

The Carmelites celebrated a special feast on July 16 to mark the day that Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock and gave him the scapular. By the 1700s, this July 16 feast was being celebrated everywhere in the Church.

St. Simon Stock was an early Carmelite who received a vision of Mary on this date in 1251 in which she gave him the brown scapular. The scapular comes from a two-sided apron that monks wear while they work—a skinny poncho of sorts. In the vision, Mary handed Simon a scapular and told him that she would protect whoever wore it. The garment became part of the Carmelite habit, and appears in many other religious habits as well.

Many people wear a small version of the scapular under their shirts, which looks like two brown, square pieces of cloth that hang on the breast and back, connected by strings around one’s neck. It is worn as a devotional practice—as a way to call to mind Mary’s motherly protection and to ask for her prayerful assistance.

Some of the Church’s greatest saints were Carmelites, including St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Therese of Lisieux, all of whom are doctors of the Church. This image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel surrounded by Carmelite saints was created by Matthew Alderman '06 and is used here with his permission.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, you gave us the scapular, and you protect and care for us as a mother—pray for us!