💖 HOMILY - JULY 23 💖

First Reading - Exodus 16:1-5,9-15 

Gospel - Matthew 13:1-9

Every human being carries a hunger within — not only for food, but for meaning, for hope, for truth. In today’s readings, we are reminded that God alone satisfies the deepest hunger of the heart, and that He feeds us both with daily bread and with the Word that gives life.

In the first reading, the people of Israel are in the wilderness — hungry, tired, and full of complaints. Though they had been freed from slavery, the memory of Egypt is still strong. In their hunger, they doubt God's care. But God responds not with anger, but with generosity. He sends manna from heaven — a mysterious bread that appears on the ground each morning, enough for each day. It is not just food; it is a lesson in trust. God will provide — not all at once, but day by day, morning by morning. The people are called to depend on Him, to gather what they need, and to believe that He is with them in the wilderness.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of a different kind of hunger — the hunger of the soul — and He feeds it with His Word. He tells a parable of a sower who scatters seed across all types of ground: the path, the rocky soil, the thorns, and the good soil. The seed is the Word of God — generous, abundant, and full of life. But it can only bear fruit if the soil is ready to receive it.

This parable is not just about hearing, but about how we hear. Do we let God’s Word take root in our hearts? Do we prepare the soil of our lives through prayer, silence, and openness? Or do we let the Word get choked by worries, hardened by indifference, or snatched away by distraction?

The same God who gave manna in the desert now sows His Word in our lives. He knows our hunger. He sees our restlessness. And He responds with both physical nourishment and spiritual truth — bread for the body and seed for the soul.

But just as the Israelites had to gather the manna and trust in God's provision, and just as the soil must receive the seed, so we too must cooperate with God’s grace. We must come to Him hungry, open, and ready to be fed.

Dear brothers and sisters, God is generous. He gives us what we need. But we must receive it. Let us not let the seed fall on the path or among thorns. Let us become good soil — humble, receptive, ready — so that God’s Word may take root in us and bear fruit: thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.

May we trust the Lord who feeds us in body and soul, and may we welcome His Word with open hearts, that it may grow in us and bring life to the world.