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Homily – July 7

Just a few words on today’s readings. The weather last weekend was glorious. It was so good to see so much sunshine. Have you ever stopped to think of how generous the sun is to us? The sun gives huge parts of itself away every second. If this generosity should cease all energy would eventually lose its source and everything on the planet would die. Because of the sun’s generosity we live, without it we die. But the generosity of the sun images the largesse of God toward all creation. God’s bounty invites us to be generous, big-hearted to all those who come into our lives. As St. John reminds us if God has been so good to us then we should show that same goodness to others.

I think the symbol of the Canadian Bible Society in a picture taken from today’s gospel, the sower sowing his seed. Those people who listened to Jesus as he taught them from a fishing boat knew that the familiar scene of a farmer casting seed to the wind was meant to bring to mind something more than what was described.

This isn’t all that easy. God is so open handed to us but so often we can be close-fisted to each other. We tend to hoard and hold back ourselves from others.

But the sun and our generous God are just the opposite. Jesus’ image of the sower has it own message, a message that broadcasts the truth and our God is prodigal, extravagant and generous in his gifts and in his love for each of us. God is abundance itself. Nature itself images that prodigality of God as we see the scope and the beauty of the universe.

The sower, God whom Jesus describes is not a calculating person who sows seed carefully, exactly, making sure they are planted in worthy soil. God the sower of grace and love and mercy scatters seed indiscriminately, recklessly. God’s love, mercy and forgiveness fall on the road, in the bushes, on the rocks, on barren soil as well as good soil. God has unlimited seed for the sowing and God works from a generous sense of abundance not from a guarded sense of scarcity. As God is abundantly generous in his love God is equally generous in his forgiveness as Jesus shows us the story of the prodigal, selfish and thoughtless and self-centred son who is embraced by his loving and welcoming father. We see the largesse of God’s forgiveness in the words of God’s son from the cross spoken to those who executed him and to those who abandoned him during his execution.

As we continue this Mass may we each be gifted with generous minds and hearts that will give us the prodigality to share who we are and what we have with all those who come into our lives.

This Homily entry was posted on Sunday, July 10th, 2011.