A Glimpse of His Love

Third Wednesday of the Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Year 1   IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 4:1-20), the Lord tells the parable of the sower, an approach he used when teaching those who are still outside the Kingdom --But to those outside, everything comes in parables (v. 11b). He tells of the soil conditions that the seed of the Word may fall into--the path soil (v. 4); the rocky ground (v. 5); the thorny ground (v. 7), and; the good soil (v. 8).   Reflecting on these soils shows us that all the first three types of soils are pure human conditions empty of the grace of God. In a way of speaking, the Lord tells us how our soul would be like when it is not nourished by the love of God. It will be unstable and vulnerable to open attacks of the Enemy (the path soil). It will be full of unfortunate bumps and hurdles that mean anything to use other than making our lives frustrating (the rocky ground). It will be littered with painful and unhealed wounds as we struggle to survive...

Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mk. 16: 15-18) Jesus directs the Eleven on the focus of their mission before he ascends to Heaven. His central message constitutes the role of faith and baptism in human salvation-- whosoever believes and is baptized will be saved . And that doing the opposite will bring man to damnation-- whoever does not believe will be condemned . Inherent in the act of faith is the act of total surrender to the love of God and to His will. Without this act of surrender there will be no faith as Jesus defined it. This total faith transforms the human heart totally into a soul consumed by God's love in the same way that a "partial faith" (if such is by definition possible) will not allow God's love to trasform the human soul because the reservation against faith becomes a stumbling block of that transformation. That stumbling block lets the seed of fear grow and fester the heart of man so ...