Lectio Divina
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Theme: “Hear”
1. Lectio (Reading)
“Hear then the parable of the sower.”
(Matthew 13:18)
The parable does not begin with sowing. It begins with hearing.
The seed is the same for everyone. The difference lies not in the Sower but in the soil that receives what it hears.
What happens to the Word that I hear?
Does it remain a pleasant sound that quickly fades, or does it sink deeply enough to bear fruit?
2. Meditatio (Meditation)
Yesterday morning, while working in the garden, I began to hear something. It was faint enough that I continued pulling weeds without giving it much thought. A few moments later, I heard it again, but I remained intent on finishing my project. Finally, it dawned on me what I was hearing.
A rooster was crowing.
For over a year that sound had been absent from The Glenn. Our Dorking rooster, Cogburn, had disappeared during those chaotic months when I was raising six adolescent livestock guardian dogs all at once. Before then, his crow announced every dawn. Without realizing it, I had grown accustomed to his silence.
Now, because I had brought home several young replacement roosters, one had finally reached maturity and was proclaiming the morning.
The sound had always been there. The question was whether I was paying enough attention to hear it.
I wonder if the Gospel is like that.
Christ constantly sows His Word throughout my day. Creation proclaims His glory. The sheep, the soil, the crowing rooster, the heat of a Texas morning, the quiet before sunrise—all become voices announcing His Kingdom. Yet I become so absorbed in my own projects that I fail to hear what has already been spoken.
Pope Francis reminds me in Laudato Si’ that “everything is connected.” When I fail to acknowledge the dignity of a poor person, a human embryo, or a person living with disabilities, I also lose the ability to hear the cry of creation itself. My deafness is never selective. Once I close my ears to one part of God’s creation, the rest gradually grows silent as well.
Perhaps this explains why regenerative agriculture has become such an important teacher for me. Healthy soil is not merely dirt; it listens. It receives rain, roots, microbes, and seeds into a living communion. Likewise, a faithful disciple does not merely hear Christ’s Word as information. He receives it into the soil of his life where it can transform everything around it.
The rooster’s crow reminded Peter of his denial. This rooster reminds me of something different: every morning Christ gives me another opportunity to hear Him before the noise of the day drowns out His voice.
3. Oratio (Prayer)
Lord Jesus,
Open my ears before You ask anything of my hands.
Too often I rush into work before I have listened for Your voice. Too often I hear only the noise of my own ambitions while overlooking the quiet invitations of Your grace.
Let me hear You in Sacred Scripture.
Let me hear You in the cries of the poor.
Let me hear You in the unborn child whose voice cannot yet be heard.
Let me hear You in those living with disabilities, whose dignity reflects Your own image.
Let me hear You in the groaning of creation that longs for healing.
And let me hear You in the ordinary sounds of The Glenn—the sheep grazing, the wind through the grass, and the crowing rooster that announces another day of Your mercy.
May my heart become good soil where every word You sow bears fruit for the life of the world.
Amen.
4. Contemplatio (Chestertonian Synthesis)
Chesterton delighted in saying that the world is not merely full of wonders; it is full of familiar wonders that we have ceased to notice. The greatest tragedy is not that God has stopped speaking. It is that I have become accustomed to His voice.
The first principle of Catholic Social Doctrine, Pope Leo XIV reminds us in Magnifica Humanitas, is that every human person is created in the image of the Triune God. The Father eternally gives Himself to the Son, the Son receives and returns that gift, and the Holy Spirit is the living communion of that love. I discover my own humanity only by entering into that same rhythm of receiving and giving.
That means hearing is already an act of communion.
When I truly hear another person, I begin to love them.
When I truly hear creation, I begin to care for it.
When I truly hear the Gospel, I begin to resemble Christ.
The rooster does not crow to admire the sound of his own voice. He simply announces that dawn has arrived.
So too the Christian.
The purpose of hearing the Word is not merely to possess it but to proclaim, by the witness of an ordinary life, that the Light has already come into the world.
May I never become so busy tending God’s garden that I fail to hear the Gardener Himself calling my name.