Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 24, 2026
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Hear 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.”
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
I’m a novice gardener. It started as a family activity and a chance to be outside, and it’s since taught me a lot. Plants grow everywhere: palm trees grow in sand, moss in sidewalk cracks, and air plants seemingly grow without medium. God walks around his garden, scatters seeds of faith generously, and shares cultivation with us.
We are called to understand our soil, care for it, and ensure it is fertile, and just like real gardening, it’s a year-round, lifelong activity. Soil changes over seasons and years and requires different care at different times. Right now, my soil’s core nutrients include new things, like praying with my children.
We don’t immediately know what our soil will cultivate. Some seeds take months to sprout, at which point we might find our soil needs help, that the timing wasn’t right, or that we just weren’t called to grow the plant we desperately wanted. At those times, we are called to be patient, dig deeper, and prayerfully begin again.
And even when the soil is strong, some environments are harsher—busyness and temptation are among the thorns and weeds Jesus references. They constrict our space for prayer. Sometimes good gardening requires pruning what crowds plants out. Harsh weather, like anxiety and stress, can derail the best gardener’s work. Sometimes we survive the frost to then see where we need support.
Gardening is a team sport. Nine years ago, I married a better gardener, Katie. She shows me how to tend other people’s soil with how she organically waters the faith of our family and friends.
I am grateful for God, the eternal gardener, who taught us about mustard seeds, fig trees, and olives, and gave us a world filled with plants to serve as clues for how to make our faith bear fruit.
Prayer
Holy God, may the Word we proclaim guide us, the Eucharist we share unite us. We are called to be Christ’s healing presence in a divided world. Watch over us and guide us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Sharbel Makhloof was a monk from Lebanon who lived as a hermit at the end of the 19th century. He was known for his holiness during life, a reputation that spread after his death because of the miracles and supernatural signs attributed to his intercession.
He was born in 1828, high in the Lebanese mountains, and grew up tending his family’s flock of sheep. He placed an icon of Mary near the meadow where his sheep pastured and spent his days in prayer.
In 1851, he left his family and entered the monastery, where he began his formation as a monk. In time, he studied for ordination to the priesthood, and later petitioned the monastery to be allowed to live as a hermit, secluded from the monastery community. Permission was granted, and in 1875, Sharbel began living in solitude and silence and prayer, which was his life until he died of a stroke in 1898.
Months after his death and burial, his brother monks noticed a glow around his tomb. When they opened it, they found his body had not decayed and was flexible—it looked as though it was living. A blood-like fluid continually seeped from his body, which defied explanation. His tomb was reopened 50 years later, and it was still found in this condition.
Many miracles have been attributed to St. Sharbel—hundreds—and he seemed to have been an encouragement for the American monk and writer, Thomas Merton. "Sharbel lived as a hermit in Lebanon—he was a Maronite,” Merton wrote. “He died. Everyone forgot about him. Fifty years later, his body was discovered incorrupt and in a short time, he worked over 600 miracles. He is my new companion. My road has taken a new turn. It seems to me that I have been asleep for 9 years—and before that I was dead."
At Sharbel’s beatification Mass in 1965, Pope Paul VI said, “May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance, and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God.” He was canonized in 1977.
St. Sharbel, you were the holy monk from Lebanon who worked wonders after your death—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Sharbel Makhloof is in the public domain. Last accessed March 20, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
