Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of Saint Sharbel Makhluf, Priest
Patron Saint of Lebanon — Hermit, Wonder-Worker

First Reading: Jeremiah 3:14-17
Responsorial Psalm: Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13
Gospel: Matthew 13:18-23
Daily readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072426.cfm

God speaks through Jeremiah to scattered, rebellious children: Return. I am your master. I will take you one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. I will give you shepherds after my own heart. And in those days — in the fully restored time — they will no longer need the ark of the covenant as a symbol, because Jerusalem itself will be the LORD's throne. All nations will gather. They will walk no longer in the hardness of their hearts.

It is a vision of return and restoration — not for the impressive, not for the already-faithful, but for the rebellious ones who have wandered. One from a city. Two from a clan. Not a crowd. Not the whole institution. A few, gathered in, given shepherds, brought home.

Then Jesus explains the parable of the sower from the inside. The seed that falls on the path — the word enters but the Evil One steals it before it can take root. The rocky ground — joy at first, but no depth; when tribulation comes, it falls away immediately. The thorns — the word gets in, but worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke it before it bears fruit. And then the rich soil: the one who hears the word and understands it, who bears fruit a hundredfold. The difference between the four soils is not intelligence or talent. It is depth, rootedness, and what is allowed to crowd out the word.

Saint Sharbel Makhluf spent the last twenty-three years of his life in a Lebanese hermitage on a hill above the monastery, in near-total silence. He ate almost nothing. He slept on a rough mat with a wooden log for a pillow. He said: "The things that go on within you are more important than those that take place in your life." And: "A man who prays lives out the mystery of existence. A man who does not pray scarcely exists." He became rich soil by removing everything that could crowd out the word. After his death, his body was found incorrupt, exuding oil and blood. Twelve thousand documented miracles were attributed to him within two years. The seed bore fruit a hundredfold. He is the parable, lived.


A few questions to sit with today:

1. Which soil do I most recognize in myself this week — the path, the rocky ground, the thorns, or the rich soil? Has anything changed since last Sunday when we first heard this parable?

2. What are the thorns in my life right now — the worldly anxieties or lures that are actively crowding out the word? Am I being honest about what they are?

3. Sharbel said: "The things that go on within you are more important than those that take place in your life." Do I believe that? Does my daily schedule reflect it?

4. God says: Return. I will gather you, one from a city, two from a clan. Do I feel gathered in — held, brought home — or do I feel scattered? Have I told him that honestly?


One small thing for tomorrow:

Find five minutes of genuine silence this weekend — no phone, no background noise, no podcast. Just sit. Sharbel spent twenty-three years in silence. You are not asked for twenty-three years. Just five minutes. Let the word have a little more room.


Lord Jesus, you explain the parable clearly and I still recognize myself in the wrong soils more often than I want to. The thorns are real — the anxiety, the noise, the lure of things that crowd out what you are trying to grow in me. Help me to pull something out today. One thorn. Make a little more room. And thank you for Sharbel — for a man who took the parable so seriously that he stripped away everything that was not you, and bore fruit that is still multiplying more than a century after his death. Let his prayer be mine: may the things that go on within me be more important than the things that take place around me. May Mary, who made herself entirely rich soil, pray for all of us who are still being weeded. Amen.


If you'd like to share: what is one thorn — one thing that has been crowding out the word in your life lately — that you sense God is inviting you to let go of?