During the Angelus prayer on July 16, Pope Francis explained the parable of the sower in the Sunday Gospel to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. He invites parents, priests, religious and lay people to persevere in sowing the seeds of the word of God with joy and generosity, without following fads or becoming discouraged by immediate success or failure.
(Vatican News Network) Pope Francis presided over the Angelus prayer at the study window of the Vatican Apostolic Building on Sunday, July 16. Before reciting the scriptures, he reflected on the content of the parable of the “sower” in the Gospel that day as usual, and invited everyone to follow the example of Jesus. When understanding the state of our “soil”, we should always have the confidence to bear rich fruits.
Jesus Knows Our Limits, Yet Keeps Sowing
The Pope first explained that in this parable, people can freely choose whether to accept the seeds of the Holy Word, but Jesus always believed that the “soil” in everyone’s heart can bear fruit. “Jesus, the ‘good sower’,” said the Pope, never tires of sowing generously. He knows our soil, our capricious stones and sinful thorns that suppress the Word, but he always wants us able to bear great fruit.”
parents don’t lose heart
The Pope then invites us to imitate Jesus, who never tires of sowing. The Pope first said to parents who are charged with the mission of passing on the faith: “Parents are called to do this. If sometimes it seems that they are not understood by their children, their teaching is not appreciated, or they encounter ‘opposition’ from secular thinking, then Never get discouraged either. The good seed stays and that’s all that matters and it will take root in due time. But if parents succumb to a mistrustful mindset and give up planting the seed, leaving their kids at the mercy of fads and cell phones , do not spend time with children, do not educate them, and the fertile soil will be overgrown with weeds.”
Invite youth to pray and labor for others
Then the Pope turned his attention to the youth, saying: “Prayer is a small invisible seed, entrusting to Jesus everything that one experiences, so that Jesus can make it ripe. But I also think Give time to those who need it: it may seem like time is lost, but it is a holy time, and the apparent satisfaction of consumerism and hedonism leaves you empty-handed. I thought of learning as hard work and not It pays off immediately, like planting a seed, but it’s essential to building a better future for all.”
Persist in preaching, not clinging to immediate success or failure
Finally, the Pope reminded priests, religious and lay people, urging them not to be discouraged even if “immediate results” are not achieved. The Pope encouraged: “We must never forget that when we proclaim the Holy Word, even if nothing seems to happen, in fact, the Holy Spirit is at work and the Kingdom of God is already growing. Efforts, but also more than ours. So go ahead with joy! Let us remember those who planted in our lives the seeds of the Word of God: perhaps the seeds germinated many years after our encounter with them, But this achievement is precisely thanks to them.”
The Pope finally encouraged the believers to reflect on these questions: “Have I sown good seeds? Do I only care about my own harvest or do I sow seeds for others? Do I sow some Gospel seeds in my daily life: study, work, free time? Am I going to get discouraged, or, like Jesus, keep planting even when I don’t see immediate results?”
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2023-07-17 12:10:29
