“This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.”
The first reading from Jeremiah fits perfectly with Jesus’ words from today’s Gospel reading: “Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.” The disciples ask Jesus why he speaks to the crowd in parables, and he says that knowledge has been given to the disciples but not to the crowds. This is difficult to understand because it seems that Jesus would want to speak to people clearly and not in parables. Saint Lawrence of Brindisi said the parables are like treasure God has hidden underground, “so that we cannot find it or unearth and possess it without great effort and diligence.”
God, help me understand that to know your will means bringing the hole I have dug for myself to you and asking you to fix it so it can hold water. Jesus’ parable seems pretty straightforward until I try to identify which of the seedbeds I am and realize I am and have been all of them. God, help me understand how to listen out for you during the day to remain in you and stay whole.
It is one of those days where finding early morning quiet time to pray didn’t work. I feel like something is missing, like I’ve forgotten to eat breakfast or double knot my shoelaces. It is good, then, when the desire is there that my brother invites me today to adoration.
Today there is so much I would like to do, so many peaks I’d like to ascend. But I know very well I won’t reach them. God, help me today realize that my way is not your way and if I slow down enough to hear you, I’ll go further than I imagined.