Johannine Hours              Matthew 13.18-23                February 1996
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[The "Johannine hours" are meant as a way of seeking God in silence
and prayer in the midst of our daily life. During the course of a
day, take a moment to read the Bible passage with the short
commentary and to reflect on the questions which follow.
Afterwards, a small group people can meet to share what they have
discovered and perhaps for a time of prayer.] 

More than a list of threats that weigh upon the disciples, this
parable seeks to bring out the precious and super-abundant gift
that the Word represents. It carries within itself a great creative
dynamism: whatever the losses may be, the result is amply positive.
The Word is well worth all our attention, all our care. 

The Word is more vital than the values of the world: the criteria
of realiability, security and sucess which, if they invade us with
their voices in turn strident, anxious or imaginary, come to the
point of covering over and discouraging the Word that invites and
renders possible a communion. 

The Word can deploy its action only to the extent of our response.
From there comes our responsibility in welcoming it earnestly, of
ensuring that its roots are profound: in recollection, in gathering
ourselves within. Listening to the Word yet again more deeply,
letting it englighten us and reveal the longing set within us...And
discover there our longing of God. 

The Word is Christ...To welcome the Word is to let Christ be free
to live in me: to believe when I no longer expect anything, to
forgive when I would like to draw back, to give myself when I have
nothing left, to bear the fruit in spite of the stones and the
undergrowth in my life. 

This love enlarges my life a hundredfold and gives a meaning that
is stronger than everything. 

      What are the deep roots that make it posssible to continue to
      welcome the Word? 
      What helps us to gather ourself together inwardly? 
      How can we step back from what wears us down, discourages and
      disperses us, and how can we rediscover the essential
      priorities? How can we keep alive our creativity? 


"Johannine Hours" - 02/96 - ©71250 Taizé-Community, France.
taize@cpe.ipl.fr 



"Hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the
kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off
what was sown in his heart:this is the man who received the seed on
the edge of the path...And the one who received the seed in rich
soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the
one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty,
now thirty." (Mt 13.18-23) 




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