Today's ReadingsDo you have any idea how many times you have taken the walk with Mark described in today's gospel? Probably you will number quite a few, uncountable times. Yet follow up questions might be these: Remember the content of the gospel parable of the sower and the seed? What's it all about, Alfie?
Today's liturgy honors St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican priest. He is one of our Church's remarkable thinkers and holy men. When he read or heard a biblical remark or story, as in today's gospel, he would become like those to whom Mark gives recognition: "And when he [Jesus] was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables" (Mk 4:10). Aquinas never took anything he read or heard for granted. Seemingly no matter how many times this Dominican priest would hear a line or story from the Scriptures, he would ask himself questions about what he had just read or reread. He was a scholar, a believer, who always looked for something me might have seen or considered before.
Today's liturgy honors St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican priest. He is one of our Church's remarkable thinkers and holy men. When he read or heard a biblical remark or story, as in today's gospel, he would become like those to whom Mark gives recognition: "And when he [Jesus] was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables" (Mk 4:10). Aquinas never took anything he read or heard for granted. Seemingly no matter how many times this Dominican priest would hear a line or story from the Scriptures, he would ask himself questions about what he had just read or reread. He was a scholar, a believer, who always looked for something me might have seen or considered before.
Aquinas was and continues to be a model of the "measured pace" of Ordinary Time. Like to the theologian, this parable puts before us a challenge: "What is in it for me?" Our challenge is to jump over the hurdle of routine or same-old-storiness when we hear or read the parable for the umteenth time. "I've heard that so many times before" is a thought that we need to prevent entry into our minds. How much more Scripture would mean to us if we reacted like an Aquinas: What is there in the parable for me? today? where I am at this time on my own spiritual journey?
Recall Jesus' answer to those who questioned him: "The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you." This is Jesus' answer to us when we question what we hear today. A careful, prayerful full attention to what Jesus is teaching in the gospels will be like the seed that fell into the good, the ready soil. Then there was a harvest!
