THE MEMORIAL OF SAINTS ANDREW KIM TAEGON AND PAUL CHON HASSANG AND COMPANION MARTYRS.
MEMORIAL OF SAINTS ANDREW KIM TAEGON, PRIEST AND PAUL CHONG HASANG, CATECHIST, AND COMPANION MARTYRS.
"When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable.
“A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up.
Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.”
After saying this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be.
He answered, “Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.
“This is the meaning of the parable.
The seed is the word of God.
Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.
As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit.
But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.” (Luke 8: 4 - 15).
Saturday September 20th 2025 is the Memorial of the Korean Martyrs: ANDREW KIM TAEGON, PRIEST AND PAUL CHONG HASANG, CATECHIST, AND COMPANION MARTYRS.
130 Korean Martyrs gave their lives for their faith in Jesus Christ.
They all gave their lives to Christ between 1839 and 1867.
Among the martyrs were priests and laity and a full representative of the Church in Korea from all backgrounds.
We celebrate today the witness of the martyrs of Korea to the truth that the message of Jesus, of mercy, peace and promise of eternal life can resound in every heart in the world.
A Korean traveler in China heard the Good News in that country. He returned home to Korea with tracts of the Catechism.
He brought the light of the faith to Korea.
Our key Scripture is the Parable of the Sower. A sower goes out to sow and encounters four types of soil or four locations:
#1 Pathway.
#2 Rocky ground.
#3 Thorny Shrub.
#4 Rich soil.
Psalm 65 reveals how God carefully prepares the ground for sowing. God is not a careless Farmer.
"You [God] have visited the land and watered it; greatly have you enriched it. God’s watercourses are filled; you have prepared the grain. Drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods, softening it with showers, blessing its yield." (Psalm 65).
God cannot be blamed for the hardness of heart found in soils that failed. It is a mystery that out of the four types of soil, only one produced a harvest.
The harvest of a hundred, sixty, thirtyfold depend on the understanding of the message of the Gospel and the commitment to it.
In the Parable of the Sower, we note that although the Sower is an experienced Farmer, he did not discriminate on the type of soil he sowed. He could have eliminated all the adverse soils and go straight to the good soil. God's merciful love touches every creature.
"My way is one of gentleness, of mercy, and of compassion. I offer My Cross to souls, but I never impose it, and when a soul begins to say “Yes” to the sweet and terrible exigencies of My love, I fit My Cross to her shoulders, and then help her to carry it step by step, increasing its weight only as that soul grows in love and in the fortitude that comes from the Holy Spirit." (IN SINU JESU, September 23, 2011, Feast of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina).
In September, the Church honors the Sorrowful Heart of Mary. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows obtain for us mercies from her Son Jesus.
For Prayers of Consecration to the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary, Litany, Promises of Mary to those who say the Holy Rosary, etc click the link below:
No comments:
Post a Comment
23-Psalm1to2