The Word of God Continued

I believe many of us have really never understood what a tremendous and precious gift the word of God is to us. If we understood it correctly, we would want to receive it with much more reverence. When we hear the word of God it will either bear within us good fruit or bad fruit. It will bear good fruit within us if we are well-disposed to receiving it and we have a sincere desire to take heed to it. On the other hand, it will be bad if we hear it with indifference, distaste, or without our full attention. The word of God is meant to enlighten us and to show us how to fulfill our duties. For many, however, it is blinding and causes them to be cold and indifferent.

The word of God is so important that with the exception of Christ’s death on Mount Calvary and Baptism, our Catholic faith offers nothing else that can even be compared with the word of God. Consider the countless number of people in heaven who have never received the Sacrament of Penance. Consider the countless number of people in heaven who never received the Blessed Sacrament, Confirmation or the last rites. But when it comes to the word of God, it is extremely difficult for us to get to heaven without instruction. On judgment day we will see that most Christians who were lost were damned because they did not know their Catholic faith.

The Gospel shows us that of all the people who hear the word of God, only few profit from it. Many hear it but refuse to change their lives or make the sacrifices which God asks of them, so that they might become good and pleasing to Him. They refuse to extricate themselves from toxic and sinful relationships. They won’t abandon people or places that are an occasion of sin for them.

Some people hear God’s word with joy but are not willing to do what it commands. Still others have hard and stubborn hearts. They find fault with God’s word and abuse it. Finally, however, there are those who ardently desire to hear God’s word. They embrace every opportunity God gives them to profit by it. It is in these people that God’s word bears fruit and to whom Saint Matthew refers to as the “wheat.”

Let us carefully listen to the word of God. Let us stop sinning. Let us turn away from worldly pleasures, inordinate desires and passions. Let us embrace every opportunity to bear fruit for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching