Daily Gospel Reflection for July 24, 2019

Reflection by Margaret Ann Stimatz Today's Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9 I wonder if you find in your heart -- as I do in mine -- a mix of soils: some parts shallow, some rocky, and others infested with thorns? Recently, I damaged a parked vehicle. No one was looking, so I fled the scene. Avoiding all thought of responsibility, I added blaming, name-calling and rationalizing to my original wrong-doing. A patch of bad soil in my heart was producing this avalanche of bad fruit. Thankfully, the Master Gardener got to work. Using my daily prayer, Holy Communions, and the Sacrament of Confession, He softened hard clods, removed stones and yanked out invasive thorns. He transformed tracts of noxious soil in my heart, making them capable of bringing forth good fruit. The result? I became willing to name my sin and to make amends to the one I had harmed. Only the Master Gardener can accomplish such changes. But He requires my cooperation in two areas. First, I need to surrender myself and the rotten-looking fruit to Him; and second, I must keep my focus on God, not on the fruit. If I start obsessing about how anemic or wormy or defective the fruit is looking, I will derail the process. But God truly longs to complete the good work He has already begun in my life! So, if I surrender this situation, He will make use of every step I take in His direction -- praying, receiving sacraments, doing little things He asks each day -- to accomplish His work. Little by little, He will purify and enrich my soil, and remedy its every deficiency.