My husband laid down ground rules at the start of our marriage. One of them is that no one walks out during an argument. You can storm out of the room but not out of the house. Even if we haven’t resolved the conflict by bedtime, we don’t sleep apart. We talk when emotions have cooled down.

When we fight, I don’t let my emotions interfere with my wifely duties. Even if I’m tempted to strangle him in his sleep, I’d still iron his clothes and prepare breakfast. My service as his wife doesn’t depend on my feelings. It was a decision I made before God when I married him.

Twenty-seven years later, we are still reaping the happy fruits of the good seed we sowed early on in our marriage. Our marriage is not perfect, but it’s a union between two imperfect people, made perfect in Christ. It’s the legacy we want to leave our children—that God can make something beautiful with two flawed people who allow Him to work in them. Ronna Ledesma (ronna_ledesma@yahoo.com.ph)

reflect

“A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Lord, You are our third strand. May our marriage reflect Your goodness and patience.

St. Robert Bellarmine, bishop and Doctor of the Church, pray for us.

Jesus takes what is mortal and makes it immortal. This will happen at the resurrection of the dead. Our mortal bodies will become imperishable and we will become one with God and live with Him forever. It is impossible to understand this concept completely. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten us and inspire us to lay down our lives in the service of the Gospel.

³⁵ Brothers and sisters: Someone may say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?” ³⁶ You fool! What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. ³⁷ And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind. ⁴² So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. ⁴³ It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. ⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one. ⁴⁵ So, too, it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. ⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 56:10-12, 13-14

R: I will walk in the presence of God, in the light of the living.

¹⁰ Now I know that God is with me. ¹¹ In God, in whose promise I glory, ¹² in God I trust without fear; what can flesh do against me? (R) ¹³ I am bound, O God, by vows to you; your thank offerings I will fulfill. ¹⁴ For you have rescued me from death, my feet, too, from stumbling; that I may walk before God in the light of the living. (R)

Gospel | Luke 8:4-15

It is easy to live an inspired life for a moment but we fall back into mediocrity after a short while. Let us draw from the abundant riches of God’s grace. Let us live in the strength of His love and be inspired to do great things constantly. This is how to become a saint. Let us pray God will make us saints.

Gospel Acclamation

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.

⁴ When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable. ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. ⁶ Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. ⁷ Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸ And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.” After saying this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” ⁹ Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. 10 He answered, “Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand. ¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation. ¹⁴ As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit. ¹⁵ But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read JEREMIAH 39 - 42 today.

On many occasions in the Scriptures, Jesus likened the action of the Word of God in agricultural terms—like a seed planted on the ground, or soil that needs to be cultivated, or a plant that needs to be nurtured and bears fruit. Today’s parable of the sower is no exception. This is because accepting the Word of God is not an event; it is a process. I see the Word of God operating in three ways.

First, the Word of God informs. It is food for the mind and the soul. We did not discover God. It is He who made the initiative to make Himself known. That is why the Bible is called revelation. It informs us of the things of God: who He is, His thoughts, His ways, how He acts, what He expects from us His children. The Bible is our first path to knowledge of God. As Saint Jerome rightly admonished us, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

Second, the Word of God forms. We may be created in God’s image and likeness, but that image and likeness is latent, crude, and undeveloped. Like a seed bearing dynamic potentials, the Word awakens and unleashes the “divine” DNA within us and makes us grow into our calling as sons and daughters of God our Father. When Jesus was transfigured in Mount Tabor, Moses and Elijah stood beside Him in His transfigured glory. They represent the law and the prophets. Similarly, God’s Word contained in the law and the prophets form us into a child upon whom the Father will be well-pleased.

Lastly, the word of God transforms. Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “And we all . . . are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Like clay in the hands of a potter, God’s Word molds, folds, shapes, and reshapes us that we may ultimately be formed according to His likeness and image. This may be painful at times. But like a seed that has to die first before it bears fruit, we, too, must die to our sinful tendencies and rise to the heights of our glorious destiny. Fr. Joel O. Jason

reflection question

How well do you know the Scriptures? That will determine how much you know Christ.

Thy Word, O Lord, is lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ______________________________________________