Friends:
The Gospel of the sower suggests a most interesting and very timely theme that Fidel Aizpurúa points out: “our greatest enemy is superficiality. We approach everything without going deeper and, in doing so, we trivialize it, impoverish it, confuse it.” The seed is the same for all; what changes is the soil. Only deep soil is suitable for taking root and bearing fruit.
But the parable is not a reproach, but an opportunity for change. Against banality, what a good antidote is silence and listening to our “inner teacher.” And against indifference, cultivate sensitivity—as Pepa Torres asks us this week—to “capture the invisible, the weak, the small.” Because that blindness of those who “looking do not see and hearing do not listen” is so often what prevents us from recognizing the face of the migrant, and what has been leading us, as a people, to harden our borders and policies. Against this, the Pope demanded these days from Lampedusa a “depth of humanity”: to look deeply in order to see persons again.
And finally we are launching the new website, which is easier to read and share. We will need to be patient as we improve the links that may not have copied correctly. Will you help us grow by sharing articles on social networks or by using the sign-up form for the weekly email?
For October there is a proposal for a retreat accompanied by José Arregi with a very interesting approach.
Gospel and commentaries on the Gospel
Mt 13, 1-23. That day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. The crowd remained on the beach. He spoke to them of many things in parables: “A sower went out to sow.”
Miguel A. Munárriz Casajús: The Word. If there is no Word, there is no seed, no harvest or fruit.
José Luis Sicre: Answers for a Crisis of the Church. The liturgy dedicates these Sundays to the parables about the Kingdom of God, elaborated by Matthew to answer questions that the first followers of Jesus asked themselves. The one this week could be: Why do not all accept the message of Jesus?
Enrique Martínez Lozano: Resonance Makes the Word Effective. As we become more attentive to our inner world, certain readings or hearings resonate in us. Such resonances are nothing but the voice of wisdom that expresses itself in each person.
Fray Marcos: To Believe Myself Good Soil is the Greatest Danger. In me too there are thorns and stones.
José Antonio Pagola: Sow with Faith. Almost without realizing it we can come to think that the Gospel has lost its former virtue, and the message of Jesus no longer has bite or power of conviction for modern humanity.
Fidel Aizpurúa: As the Soil was not Deep…it Withered. To bear fruit, the Word needs depth. On mere surface, the Word withers away.
Pepa Torres: The Parables of Jesus. The Language of God. For Jesus, God and his project is not a theory or a principle that is talked about, but an experience that he transmits in words and deeds and that moves him constantly toward brotherhood.
Selected articles for the week
Must Religion Die for the Gospel to Be Born?. The Church is not only at stake for its social relevance today, but something deeper: its faithfulness to the Gospel against the logic of power that tempts it to protect itself.
Ínigo García Blanco: Dispelling the Fog. Europe’s credibility will not be measured by the height of its borders, but by the depth of its humanity.
Juan José Aguirre: Monsignor Aguirre: “Father Crepin Monga, New Martyr of Our Persecuted Church”. He was murdered in Zemio, a mission in the east of the Diocese of Bangassou. He was responsible for the peace and reconciliation committee in the region.
José Lorenzo: The Pope, from Lampedusa, Calls on Europe, by “its Potential and Responsibility,” to Address the Migration Crisis. “The dead in this sea are victims either of decisions taken or of decisions omitted,” denounces Leo XIV, who pays tribute to Francis 13 years after his programmatic journey.
Jesús Lozano Pino: “In Spain There are Now More Dogs than Children.” A Portrait of a Society Urgently Seeking Someone to Love. The pet thus becomes a channeler of the instinct to care and the feeling of loneliness.
How Much are We Worth to God?. In the Gospel we find a beautiful account that reveals God’s tenderness toward us. It fills us with confidence, dispels our fears and can help us give bold and joyful witness.
Gerardo Villar: Silence. We are in a society very much like the Tower of Babel. There is such an abundance of communications that silence and serious conversation about any topic is impossible.
Martin Scheuch: The Canonization of Shadows. A critical analysis of the canonization process in the Catholic Church, where the construction of holiness reveals itself less as an infallible judgment on virtue and more as a sophisticated operation of selection, interpretation and management of historical memory.
For more participatory and contemporary Eucharists
Is 55, 10-11. A herald who announces abundance on behalf of God, the ceaseless sowing of his Word, its unstoppable fecundity.
Rom 8, 18-23. All creation groans even until now and suffers labor pains. We are God’s children called to light.
Florentino Ulibarri: Seeds of the Kingdom. You are seeds of my Kingdom! Become fruitful, burst forth, do not remain buried. Bloom and bear fruit.
Vicky Irigaray: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The parable of the sower reminds us of the magnificent harvest that the seed produces when it falls on good soil.
Anaphora: The Reign of God. Our mission is not to proselytize but to promote the Kingdom of God.
Benedictine Nuns of Montserrat. 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Multimedia material
Prayer for Venezuela. In a simple gathering, as brothers and sisters, we sing our solidarity and hope. Without many effects or complexities, we only need your heart ready and open to this mission of compassion during this time of prayer shared as a Global Network of Prayer.
For Respect for Human Life. Pope Leo, in his prayer intention for this month, invites us to pray that the unique and irreplaceable value of each human being be recognized and that our societies learn to safeguard life with love, tenderness and responsibility.
Salomé Arricibita: To the Sower. We are soil, with everything in it, but soil that welcomes and makes life grow. God knows it, so he does not tire of sowing, again and again… that we welcome and care for his seeds.
I Found You. A song to find God everywhere… “I found you in my interior.”
What are You Cultivating?. We live on a roller coaster of actions and emotions that last barely a few seconds. But what happens to that which truly transforms our lives? This message, inspired by the parable of the sower, proposes to pause for a moment to look inward and discover what is growing in your heart. An invitation to recover hope, put down roots, and discover that it is always possible to start again. Because life does not change by what you accumulate, but by what you cultivate.
The Voice They Will Not Silence. when you doubted your strength… your soul remained alight.
In the EFFA School we provide the link to the curriculum where all the talks and available bibliography are located, for those who have not been able to view them or want to review any of them again. The link to access the latest videos uploaded may also be useful.
And, as I promised you, the letters will end with these three links: the letter of the week, the letter of last week and letters from other weeks. When someone loses—or does not receive—the email with the updates, they can use an old letter to access the new one.
A hug,
Inma Calvo
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