1 Cor 15:33-37, 42-49 / Luke 8:4-15 (2022)
The imagery of a seed being sown in the ground and then germinating into a plant is really amazing and astounding.
And to realize that the plant bears almost no resemblance to the seed that it came from is also very intriguing. Maybe perhaps the only visible connection is in the seeds that it bears.
Hence we can say that nature bears an indication to the mystery of life, here as well as hereafter.
And that was why in the 1st reading, St. Paul used that imagery of the seed and what it will grow into as a means of explaining the mystery of the afterlife and the resurrection.
In the gospel, Jesus also used the imagery of seeds, with the sower sowing seeds in various types of soil.
Yet Jesus also said: Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!
What we hear at Mass, i.e. the prayers, the homily, the hymns, all these are like seeds of the mystery of God that are sown into our hearts.
Whatever the state of our hearts may be, the seeds will remain there and will not go back to God without achieving what they were sent to do.
Yet let us also do what is necessary for the seeds to bear fruit. Just like the seed must die in order to bear a harvest, we too must die to ourselves in order for the Word of God to become alive in us.
But we must first listen to the Word of God, and then our hearts will begin to bear fruit that will last.