July 23 Homily Prep

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at www.usccb.org
-check out this week's LinC Letter on the back of the parish bulletin or at www.saint-albert.org/lincletter
-I will be celebrating mass on 9:30am and 12:30pm on Sunday

What Seeds are We sowing?

 Last Sunday's Homily and gospel about the sower and the seed prompted me to ask that we practice sowing seeds of the kingdom of God. I was prompted to this because so often we are asked to consider our lives as the soil into which the seeds are being sown.   I was suggesting that we are to see ourselves as sowers of the seeds of the kingdom..

 Today's gospel continues the parables of Jesus about the kingdom of God and the parable of the wheat and the weeds is confirming my question of last week. I am wondering about the quality, the holiness, and the loving quality of the seeds that we are sowing in peoples lives. It was Pope Paul VI who suggested to us in his document on evangelization that we are evangelizing all the time-sometimes it is positively for the kingdom of God and other times it is negatively. So, let's examine the seeds that we are sowing in peoples' lives.

 How often are you planting the seeds of criticism, judgment, resentment, self-defense, self-promotion, self-doubt, revenge, negativity, depression, hopelessness, etc.?  Especially in the lives of our children, our coworkers, our spouses?

 What is particularly troubling about this influence that we have in the world is that often we think we are being helpful.  Go figure.