Parable of the Sower

First note : Take care Sue, have a great time in Sydney during the World Youth Day! If you're seeing this post from Sydney, remember the CSS members in UCSI...as well as tokens from WYD(for us)! Ha!

Second Note : The month of July is the birth of CSS in UCSI. Though we are not sure which date exactly is our birthday, we declare the WHOLE month of July as our birthday! How nice it is...if our birthday is one month right? So, we'll be having a BIRTHDAY PARTY for OURSELVES soon. Details are as follow :
a) Date : 24th July 2008
b) Day : Thursday
c) Time : 5.30pm
More details about the theme etc. will be announced in the week to come. So check out the blog regularly!

Third Note : This week's Gospel touches on the PARABLE OF THE SOWER. With initial steps to increase spread our faith, I will share a thing or two as spoken by Fr. Lawrence Andrew of the St. Anne's Church, Klang.

"On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty fold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Matthew 13 : 1-23

This parable can be said to represent the whole world, as well as individually. Let us take a look at it from both perspectives.

World :
God is the sower in this case. And the Earth is the place where the seeds are sown. If you look around us, there're large pockets of where Christianity has flourished, then whithered. Turkey for example, the birthplace of St. Paul(Tarsus in Turkey is the exact birthplace), was once a Christian community, but now majority of the citizens are Muslims. It can be said that, God sowed the seeds to these places, but, to quote : "Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots."
Upon challenges and hardships, Christianity whither in places like Turkey. Yet in other, such as, Mexico, Brazil, and Italy, Christianity is flourishing. But does it mean, if we're on "rocky ground" or "among thorns", we are doomed to fail as Christians?

Individual :
The first question to ask is not as above, instead it is: "Are we seeds of God?" We, as Catholics(or Christians in general) have to ponder whether are we willing to "take up the cross and follow him". How have we developed by faith since the end of our Sunday school era(yay!)? Have our actions reflected God's words?
If indeed, we decide, that we are the seeds of God, the next question is: "What can we do to grow, even among thorn bushes and rocky ground?" As seeds need water to germinate, and plants need sunlight to grow, how are we going to grow by faith as Christians? Read the word of God, stick to the 10 Commandments are a few that I can think of.
"So, we will grow by doing these even if we're placed in places like Turkey?"
The answer, I think, is yes. There're Christian communities even in countries largely populated by other religion. And the simple reason that they exist, is faith to God.

(Third Note is an analysis of what Fr. Lawrence has said by the moderator. Additional information have been added to make it easier for college students to understand. If you disagree with his opinion(moderator, not Fr. Lawrence), do leave a comment in the cbox. No bantering, we're all adults...Thanks!)

Fourth note : cssucsi.blogspot.com will be rolling out the new information of the new committee soon. Do be patient with me. Thanks.

Fifth note : There will be a planning camp for CSS in the month of August. Exact date has yet to be confirmed, probably during the semster break after the 22nd of August. Do keep in mind these dates and join us for this two day planning camp in Genting Highlands! Check the blog for more details soon...


Woah. It's only the 5th note and I ran out of things to say. How am I going to break the record of the longest piece of musical note ever composed?

p.s. The longest musical piece ever composed is »Organ2/ASLSP« by American composer/artist John Cage (1912-1992). The piece ends after 639 years, on September 4, 2640. Now, that's something!