GOSPEL MEDITATION - ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE
July 12, 2026
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 13:1-23
Sometimes I feel capable of absorbing almost anything except God’s Word. My mind soaks up song lyrics, sports trivia, and endless online content. But what was the reading at Mass this morning? I struggle to recall. That realization discourages me, and it leads to an uncomfortable question. What is my heart really for? Is it shaped for constant information and distraction, or is it truly designed for God? Am I capable of deeply receiving His Word?
Jesus speaks directly to this today with a simple image. “The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it.” By comparing the Word of the Kingdom to a seed, Jesus reveals something hopeful about us. The human heart is made for that seed. Soil and seed belong together. No matter how compacted, rocky, or overgrown the ground has become, the Sower never stops sowing.
God loves our hearts. He sees them as a farmer sees his fields, full of potential. Human hearts can indeed “understand the Word.” Understanding does not mean mastering information. It means letting the Word sink in, interacting with it, and giving it a home. It means trusting that, beneath the surface, God is at work in quiet and hidden ways.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to loosen the soil of our hearts through prayer, repentance, and simplicity, the same Word that created the universe begins to bear fruit in us, 30, 60, even a hundredfold.
Lord Jesus, Sower of life, soften the soil of my heart. Let Your Word take root in me again, and bring forth the fruit You desire. Amen.
— Father John Muir
(PRACTICING) CATHOLIC - RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS
By Colleen Jurkiewicz Dorman
The Gardener and the Soil
I began writing this piece by googling “how do you make soil fertile?” which should tell you everything you need to know about my own abilities as a gardener.
I remember seeing a packet of seeds in the store one summer as a child and convincing my mother to buy them. They were delphiniums, which bloom into a beautiful cone shape if you know what you’re doing. Alas, I didn’t. I chose for my garden a particularly dry spot of earth right next to my backyard playset, scattered the seeds, congratulated myself, and went on my merry way. I returned occasionally to water the area, but only when I remembered to.
Nothing grew, not even a little sprout. I was more than heartbroken — my faith was shaken. I had planted these seeds! I had watered them! (A little.) There was sunlight! All my childhood books and rhymes said this was all you needed. Was it all a lie?
Of course it wasn’t a lie. Seeds need soil, sunlight, water, and oxygen — good soil, adequate sunlight for whatever the plant is, and consistent water.
So what seeds need more than anything is a gardener. (At least, delphiniums do.)
When I hear the parable of the rich soil and the rocky ground in the Gospel of Matthew, I often miss the point. I think Jesus is trying to give me a message about how I should be. “Be better.” That’s what I think he’s telling me.
I forget that I am only the soil. I cannot enrich myself; all my efforts to do so will come to nothing. What he is telling me is to ask the gardener: “Make me what I need to be.”
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Virtues, Explained! Affability
There was a certain sister in the Carmelite convent who particularly tried the patience of St. Therese of Lisieux.
But instead of avoiding this person, St. Therese instead made a point of smiling at her whenever the two met.
“Charity must not consist in feelings, but in works,” wrote St. Therese. “I set myself to doing for this Sister what I would do for the person I loved the most.” In doing so, she learned to see “Jesus hidden in the depths” of this woman’s soul.
St. Therese was growing in the virtue of affability when she did this. Affability is attached to justice, writes St. Thomas Aquinas, and demands “that we behave pleasantly to those among whom we dwell.” (Sum., II:II, 114, Art. 2)
In being affable, we make ourselves friendly, approachable, and agreeable to those around us, regardless of how they make us feel. “How good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together as one,” writes King David in Psalm 133.
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We, the North American Martyrs Parish, a strong community of faith, Nourished by the Holy Eucharist, Guided by the Holy Spirit and Trusting in the grace of God, Dedicate ourselves to live God’s Word and Let the light of Christ shine through our Community. We strive to provide sound religious formation for people of all ages; To care for the spiritual, social well-being of one another With particular attention to the stranger and the poor in our midst.
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