24th week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2006

Scripture: I Cor.15:35-37,42-49. Psalm 56:10-14. Luke 8:4-15.

Both Paul and Jesus are using the image of a seed planted in the ground to describe two important challenges in the life of a Christian follower. Paul treats of the Resurrection, while Jesus is using a parable about the sower and the seed to explain the responses that we humans give to the word of God. Both for us Christians are inspired messages that demand our attention and our growth in faith and the good works accompanying our faith.

This chapter fifteen of Paul's letter to the Corinthians continues probably the longest reflection on the Resurrection in the New Testament. Paul compares the final passage of death that each of us will undergo to a seed that is buried in the ground. He states, "A natural body is put down, and a spiritual body comes up....What is sown in the earth is subject to decay, what rises is incorruptible." Luke has Jesus both giving us the parable of the sower and the seed and then in the later redaction of the original parable, Jesus himself interprets it for his followers. The important sentence is the last where there is the proper response and the success of the seed: "The seed on good ground are those who hear the word in a spirit of openness, retain it, and bear fruit through perseverance." (Luke 8:45).

Recently, I have lost four close friends; two were relatively young and the other two in their seventies. These deaths struck me deeply. Today I am going to another funeral for a friend of the U. of Dayton and the Marian Library. And I just heard of another friend of mine who is seriously ill in a hospital. Death is an overwhelming fact of life and yet a profound mystery that haunts us when we think about it. We experience it more deeply when we see it in those whom we know and love. And as we age, we see more and more deaths of people whom we knew. Only our faith, hope, and love can bring us to trust that God's words through Jesus will make of us a new creation in the realm of God. "Lord, increase our faith." Amen.