How often have you heard a Scripture passage twenty times and on the twenty-first time you hear it, the Holy Spirit makes the passage finally "jump off the page"? You receive a profound new insight into the meaning of the passage. The Word of God comes alive for you.

The Holy Spirit does this work in us. The Spirit is also working the same way in the hearts of others. That's why we must constantly sow the Word of God (Mt 13:4). The Word that we sow might be that twenty-first time the Holy Spirit requires to touch a person's heart. Our sowing might be that juicy bait the Lord uses to finally catch a hungry soul He has been working on for years (see Lk 5:4). Our evangelizing might be the seed that next year will produce a harvest thirty-, sixty-, or a hundredfold (Mt 13:8).

A farmer sowing seed can't see what's under the surface of the soil. A fisherman usually can't see what's under the surface of the water, though sometimes he might get a glimpse. When we evangelize for Jesus, if we go only by what we see on the surface, we might make a wrong judgment and decide not to drop a line or plant a seed. We might miss a good catch or a fruitful harvest, even in an unlikely place, if we don't try to evangelize.

God spreads the seed and the water everywhere in today's readings. God never stops sowing, and He always gets results (Is 55:11). The Lord doesn't go by what is on the surface (see 1 Sm 16:7). We must do the same, and sow the Word of God in all places, even those that seem unlikely for success.

Rescript:  †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, February 1, 2011

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