“I WILL GIVE YOU SHEPHERDS AFTER MY OWN HEART” (Jer 3:15)

⏰Friday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (27 July 2018)

📖Jer 3:14-17; Jer 31:10, 11-12ab, 13 (R.v.10d); Matt 13:18-23

Great things happen when God mixes with us; (2x)
Great and beautiful, wonderful things;
Great things happen when God mixes with us.

Indeed, when God is with us, we are able to get all kinds of security that we need. That is why the prophet Jeremiah began today’s reading by telling us to return to God. The place of God in our lives determines how fruitful we shall become.

Consider what happened in the gospel. The same sower went out to sow same kinds of seed but the growth rate and their sustainability differ in accordance with the type of soil and environment they fell on.

Where is the Word of God planted in your life? How is it growing up in you? Does it have a rich soil in you to germinate?

There are some of us who only believes because the pastor says so. They are not convinced within themselves about the message but since an authority believes in it, they don’t mind accepting it. The crisis in view here is that the word of God will never have tap root in them. In that case, any new mentor can sweep them off from the right path.

In actual fact, as in the time of Jeremiah, bad prophets and leaders contribute to why people are swept off the good path that guarantees fruitfulness. Hence, God declares that he is going to raise shepherds himself for his people. These shepherds would help to teach the word of God rightly to the people so that it may form deep root in them and bear fruit in abundance.

May God make me one of such shepherds. And may the Holy Spirit may open up our minds to understand the precepts of God for our lives and religiously follow them so as to bear good fruits of eternal life. Amen

Have a fruitful day ahead. Peace be with you.