'And some seeds fell into rich soil, grew tall and strong, and produced a good crop; the yield was thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.'(Mark.4:8)

''And some seeds fell into rich soil, grew tall and strong, and produced a good crop; the yield was thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.'(Mark.4:8)
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Plants and trees come from seeds.

But by themselves they cannot bring forth anything.

They need soil, water and sunlight to put forth shoots.

The quality of the soil decides the quality of the plants.

Seeds sown into good and manured soil produce good crop; if the soil is poor, the yield also will be poor.

This analogy will help us to understand the effect of God's word, sown into our mind.

The seed sown into us is God's word.

God's word is very powerful.

The whole universe came into existence due to the word of God.

Our creation history begins with the word of God.

'God said, "Let there be light:" and there was light.'

The most powerful word of God is sown into our mind by  variety of ways.

Bible is the word of God and it is sown into us when we read it.

Spiritual reading of the biographies of Saints,

conversation with pious people, 

homilies that we listen to when we attend Holy Mass

and

spiritual direction that we receive from our spiritual Fathers

are some of the various channels through which God's word flows into us.

Even when we view Madha
T. V we receive God's word.

If the word of God is very powerful, it must be very effective.

But by experience we know that it has little or no effect in us.

We read the Bible daily, but our life after the reading is no better than it was before reading.

We have listened to so many sermons.

But how many of them have  moved our souls?

Sometimes we feel like being moved, but together with the end of the sermon, our movement too comes to an end.

Why is it that the most powerful word of the Almighty God looks powerless as far as we are concerned?

Just as the yield of a seed depends upon the  soil into which it is sown,

the effectiveness of the  word of God depends upon the disposition of the mind which receives it.

Let us take for example the word that comes from the Bible.

We should read the Bible not merely for  gaining knowledge,  but for living the word.

For gaining knowledge memory power is enough.

Without memory power storing what we have learned through reading  is not possible.

But to live what we have read, the word should take root in our mind.

Before sowing the seed the farmer first cultivates the land.

He cleans the land by removing unwanted stones, thorns and the like.

Then he ploughs the land,  sows the seed and then ploughs again.

Without this preparatory work proper yielding is not possible.

In the same way we must cultivate our mind first before reading the Bible.

A mind with unnecessary worries, unspiritual thoughts, material desires, sinful inclinations and the like cannot keep the received word.

The sown word cannot find proper soil to take root.

When the word tries to put forth shoots, the worldly desires in our mind will crush them down.

Moreover the soil which receives the seed must be soft.

The seed sown on a hard ground  cannot take root.

The attempt of the seed to put forth leaves will end in failure as its root cannot enter the hard ground.

How can a seedling suck food without root?

Such an end will befall the word sown on a hardened heart.

So before reading the word, we must remove all the unspiritual rubbish from our mind by making an examination of conscience and an act of contrition.

We must soften our heart with love.

Our mind and heart work together in giving life and growth to the word received.

The word is sown on the mind,  but it must take root in the heart to suck the life giving food, love.

If we receive God's word with a well prepared mind and heart ,  its yield will be hundredfold.

Here I would like to remind two things.

1.God's word is all powerful, but it will work in us only with our cooperation.

Suppose there is a very interesting novel on the table.

Only if we take it,  open it and read it, it can be interesting to us.

In the same only if we utilize God's word, we can experience its power.

2. There is another basic fact we should remember.

We were nothing before we were created.

Nothing cannot do anything.

If we are able to do anything, it is with the help of God.

We can know anything only with God given intellect.

We can love anything only with God given heart.

We can move about only with God given limbs.

Jesus has said,  ''Ask, it shall be given.''

So, we must ask God to help us to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him and to understand His word properly and to put it into practice.

I have said 'properly' because many people misunderstand and misinterpret the word to suit their own whims and fancies.

Before reading or listening to God's word we should say a small prayer requesting God to help us to understand His word as it should be understood.

We should meditate on the word on the basis of our Faith and think about the ways how to put it  into practice.

God's word is all powerful.

It can work wonders in us if we receive it with  a well prepared mind and heart.

With God with us, everything is possible, if we cooperate.

Lourdu Selvam.