Spiky purple flower Picture by Jerry Torres
The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live forever.
Alleluia refrain
The Gospel reading for today is the parable of the sower of the seed.
The seed is the word of God, and the Sower is Jesus.
But.
The Parable also bothered me.
Why?
Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”
Jesus seems to set up three classes of people, and frankly, I did not fit into the third, the sower on rich soil.
The mistake I, yes I, made was thinking this was a permanent classification and didn’t realize that it is an ever-changing classification.
Forget me. Thomas Merton, a renowned Theologian, in his younger years, pursued the “world” and all its charms(?) When he discovered the Peace offered in a Trappist Monastery, Thomas Merton changed his life completely and became rich soil.
The fact that you are reading our blog indicates to me, and I hope you, that like Thomas Merton, you are looking for rich soil in which to live, and once you find the rich soil, you will want to cultivate the soil by telling others about your experience.
satan, of course, will tell you you are now in rich soil,
But
Are you filled with Love, Joy, and Peace?
Is your life Fantastic?
Do you have a loving Triune God who has your back?
If your answer is no to any of the above three questions, we suggest you consider a change in your life, that change being praying the “Nine” every day, and within a week, you will start to notice a difference in your life.
I am in a Saturday morning Men’s group, and one of the men said he had an anger problem. We gave him a copy of the “Nine.” He said the “Nine” every day the first week, and the following Saturday, he told me he had noticed a change.
Wow!
In the third week, we asked if he had continued saying the “Nine,” He said he hadn’t,
satan.
It’s now five weeks later, and I asked him again if he was saying the “Nine,” and he said he was and was noticing a change,
But
It was a slow change.
We reminded him that he had spent a lifetime enjoying(?) his anger, and it will take time to truly change.
I know I suffered from the same difficulty.
Remember that Jesus hung for three hours on His Cross. Hanging three hours to me means we will probably not get instant answers to our life changes. The change will take time.
If life changes were instant, where would Joy come from for continuing the process?
It wouldn’t!
C.S. Lewis said, “We would rather make mud pies in the slum than be on holiday at the Ocean.”
Yes, Jesus is the Sower and the ground the Triune God wants you to live in their RICH SOIL.
Join Team Jesus:
If you would like to protect your family, dumb question, pray Psalm 91 verbally.
My life changed after reading Peggy Joyce Ruth’s book, Psalm 91, God’s Shield of Protection, Military Version. Every day, I say this powerful prayer for everyone in our life, including the writers and readers of A Catholic Moment.
Sidebar:
We are rereading Psalm 91, God’s Shield of Protection, Military Version, and I am so glad.
Chapter eleven tells the story of Seadrift, Texas, a town that hung pictures of the fifty-two men serving our country in WWII up in their church and prayed Psalm 91 for their safe return every day.
All returned home safely.
Many had served in the most vicious battles fought in World War II.
They kept up the practice for current wars and then decided to take the pictures down one day.
Three men lost their lives. One man reported feeling he had lost the protection he was experiencing a few days prior.
The church realized what they had done and rehung the pictures, and all the remaining members returned home safely.
If you don’t believe in the power of Prayer and the Power of Psalm 91, please get this book, learn about Psalm 91, and protect your family. The question that came to mind was how they reconciled themselves with losing three service members because they stopped doing what had proven successful.
Life is easy, say the prayer and believe in it, Holy Spirit,
or skip saying the prayer because it wouldn’t work anyway satan.
I received an email requesting a copy of Psalm 91. I thought about it, and it made sense because you can print it, keep it in your pocket, and learn it. A Bible would make this much harder. My email is below.
The writers of A Catholic Moment had a scare when our website was taken down because the Domain Name (I don’t know what this is) hadn’t been renewed. John Ciribassi, who writes the Saturday blog, noticed the error, alerted everyone, and helped solve the problem.
It turned out the automatic renewal process had failed.
When I read John’s first email that we were down and not knowing anything about our problem, my heart fell into my stomach. The thought of not writing our blog was unthinkable to me.
Because of your pictures and comments, we have become family, and the potential loss of our family was a real downer for me.
Why are we relating this?
When the Holy Spirit suggested we write our blog, I said, “No,” and then changed my mind. Writing a blog would be a lot of work, and I wasn’t sure I would get anything out of it. Notice the “I’s.”
I quickly changed and applied for the job; you may recall I got mad at God when I thought we hadn’t been selected. The words I used were, “You mean to say that You and I couldn’t write a winning entry?” I laughed and still do at the thought of these words.
Relationship!
I had a big downer on Saturday when I thought our relationship would be canceled.
Thank you, John. I also found out Saturday that John runs motorcycle tours country-wide.
Wow!
I wish I were a rider.
If you might be interested in what John does, John’s web page is www.emmausmototours.com
Picture:
The spiky purple flower (I have no idea what the name of it is) Picture by Jerry Torres.
Comment: Jerry, I love the picture and the honesty. I don’t know what it is, either. I know it’s beautiful, and that’s all that counts.
Please keep Snapping!
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed, email me.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
By sending your picture, you consent to allow us to reprint that picture in our next book, God Thoughts 2023, with your name and any comments in the Blog.
