Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel……..23 September 2017
We were born to grow “tall” and bear fruit a hundredfold !
I was invited to an old Chango for a festive lunch ! The nice large family were celebrating the feast day of the head of the household . At the start of lunch the elderly man stood up and very humbly proposed a toast . His words left me with a deep impression :" It seems to me it was not that long ago that I was alone - orphaned at an early age , grew up as a servant in a small mountain homestead. Worked hard - he continued with a choking voice - managed to buy a small property here in Áldomáspatak. God helped me , sent me a wonderful woman , who presented me with four beautiful children . We raised them , found them nice wives , and at today’s holy mass , thanks be to God, nineteen of us praised God together ! The elderly man raised his glass high , then with tears in his eyes emptied the glass .
I was looking at this simple man with callous hands . During his life he only left his homeland when he had to enlist , he never went to school , spent his entire life with honest , hard work among the tall mountains but behold looking back in the evening of his life he has reasons to give thanks with teary eyes ! His family , his beloved children three of whom built their houses next to his, his beloved daughters-in-law , his grandchildren all took part during the pilgrim mass before the festive lunch are all like God’s blessings as a produce that bear fruit a hundredfold ! Can a man wish for more than giving thanks at the “sunset” of his life for his beloved family !?
Lets quieten down , take count of my own past life in the sunset of autumn ! The grains of wheat are accumulating will there be a produce of fiftyfold -hundredfold ? Or are we tiptoeing with barren ear in the wind ?! So that you get a better idea take a wheat-stoke in your hand and take a good look at it ! It has hardly any root, its phylum is like a thin straw , it has virtually no leaf , the whole plant is the ear swaying in the wind carrying heavy grains. The grain of wheat is a wonderful example , a purposeful life, not a huge house lavishly furnished and empty rooms , but a wonderful small tiny home where everything but everything is serving the hundredfold produce ! Take a good look at your own life !! Who are you in God’s precious agricultural land , the bent wheat-stoke carrying the ripe ear or the worthless haughty seeds of dissension, that the Lord of the Harvest will throw into the fire ? The grace of conversion can change all this . The recognition of your weaknesses should not cause you to despair ! We were not given the spirit sadness ! Place your life into the hands of God and He will miraculously change your life around , He will lead you, your barren life will become a blessing and you’ll become the wheat-stoke , swaying in the wind , shedding tears of joy bringing a produce that is hundredfold !
Wiht love ,
Father Csaba
translated by dr k.e.
Photo : one of our kind carer from Gyergyószárhegy with her children accepted in the name of God !!
When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another
journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable.
"A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled,
and the birds of the sky ate it up.
Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew,
it withered for lack of moisture.
Some seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew,
it produced fruit a hundredfold."
After saying this, he called out,
"Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear."
Then his disciples asked him
what the meaning of this parable might be.
He answered,
"Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God
has been granted to you;
but to the rest, they are made known through parables
so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.
"This is the meaning of the parable.
The seed is the word of God.
Those on the path are the ones who have heard,
but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts
that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear,
receive the word with joy, but they have no root;
they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.
As for the seed that fell among thorns,
they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along,
they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life,
and they fail to produce mature fruit.
But as for the seed that fell on rich soil,
they are the ones who, when they have heard the word,
embrace it with a generous and good heart,
and bear fruit through perseverance.”
Luke 8, 4-15
