Daily Readings - Sat Sep 17 2022
1 Corinthians
35But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?"36You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.37And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.42So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.45Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.46But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.48As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.50I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Luke
4And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable:5"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.6And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.8And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."9And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant,10he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'11Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.12The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.13And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.14And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.15As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Sermon
The readings today invite us to reflect on the mystery of transformation and the call to openness to God’s word. In the first reading from 1 Corinthians, St. Paul uses the image of a seed to explain the resurrection of the dead. Just as a seed must die and be buried in the earth before it can sprout into new life, our bodies, though weak and corruptible now, will one day rise in glory, power, and as spiritual bodies. Paul emphasizes that our earthly bodies are not the final reality; they are but a shadow of the heavenly bodies we will one day receive. This teaching reassures us that death is not the end but a transformation, a passage from the earthly to the heavenly.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the sower, which complements Paul’s teaching. The seed represents the word of God, and the different types of soil symbolize the various ways people respond to that word. Some hear the word but let it be stolen away by distractions or temptations. Others receive it with enthusiasm but lack the depth to sustain it through trials. Still, others allow the cares and riches of the world to choke its growth. Only those with good and noble hearts, who receive the word with patience and perseverance, bear fruit. Jesus’ parable reminds us that the word of God has the power to transform us, but we must create the conditions for it to take root and flourish in our lives.
Both readings call us to reflect on our own openness to God’s word and our readiness to embrace the transformation He offers. Just as the seed must die to produce new life, we must let go of our old selves—our sins, our fears, our attachments—to rise to new life in Christ. Let us ask ourselves: What kind of soil am I? Do I allow the word of God to take root in my heart, or do I let the pressures of the world suffocate it? May we strive to be the good soil, nurturing the word with faith and patience, so that we may bear fruit in abundance and live with hope in the promise of eternal life.