The readings this Sunday reflect on the power of words. The primary concern, in this instance, is the word of God. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah reflects on the effectiveness of the word of God. It does not return empty, and without carrying God’s will, and succeeding in what it was sent out to do. In the gospel, Jesus is more realistic in saying that the word of God does fail too. It does not always achieve what it was sent out to do. When the word falls on hearts that are closed, it does not produce any fruit, but when it falls on receptive hearts, hearts that are open, it produces abundantly. 

I must say the parable of the sower is one of my favourite parables, because it reflects on the word and what it does to us. In the scripture, God is identified with the spoken word. God has no body but only a word. It was God’s word that created the world, we hear in Genesis. God spoke and creation came into being. In the New Testament, Jesus is identified as God’s Eternal Word through which everything came into existence. Jesus is the Word of the Father spoken to humanity. As important as the written words, the Word of God is primarily a person and not letters. The written words give us access to a personal relationship with God, through Jesus the Word of God.  

Over the years, I came to see the place of the word of God in my own life. We all have those moments where we cry out because we feel the absence of God. God is sometimes hard to be found and seems to be silent most of the time. But is it? God has certainly spoken to us since the dawn of creation and continues to speak to us today. God has spoken the LOVE word (Jesus Christ) to humanity, calling us into a friendship of mutual love. God speaks to us every time we listen to Jesus through the word of scripture. God has no body! We are his body and his voice. We know God does speak to us but we can easily forget that God also listens. Is that why God seems to be silent? Or is God listening to us? 

A reflection on the word and what it does leads us to also reflect on our own words. Words are powerful! We all know of the times when we were healed or lifted up by someone’s words. We also experienced times when words spoken to us bring us down or hurt us. Our words can either bring us closer or estrange us. And there are unspoken words – words we wish that should have been said to someone. On the other hand, we know how difficult it is when we are not listened to – when our words are not heard. 

So there is the need to speak and the need to listen. But that is not the point. Our words are meaningless when spoken without love. Our ears will not hear much, if we do not listen with our heart, and that goes both with God and with one another. 

By Deacon Tien Tran