Spirituality for Beginners

Fr. Bede's almost-daily reflections. When it comes to the spiritual life, we're all beginners. I also send these out by email. Contact me at bcamera@anselm.edu. God bless!





Wednesday, January 27, 2016

What stifles the graces we are given?






The parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20) can be applied to our own personal spiritual journeys and our ability to accept and act on the graces that God gives to us.

A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
Some of the things that God wants to tell us don’t get to us because we simply are not ready or because our ears are closed. The noise of the world buries the Lord’s grace because his grace and only be received in silence.

Other see fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.
How many times have we formed good intentions in immediate response to grace, but we don't we don’t take the time to let the graces sink deep within us, and they wither the next day.

Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain.
What are the thorns in our life that inhibit or distract us from cooperating with the graces we are offered? Jesus talks about the care of money and the cares of this world. It’s difficult to move from a meditation or a reflection back into the world and still hold on to whatever insights the Holy Spirit has sown in us.

And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold.
There are times when the Spirit has left us completely open and ready to receive. And the word or insight that comes to us strikes a note deep within us, we cultivate it with reflection and meditation, we water it with prayer and gratitude, and wonderful things begin to blossom and bloom in our lives and in the lives of others.


God bless you!

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