Dear Parish Family,

 “A sower went out to sow.” Those simple words begin one of the most memorable parables in the gospel – a story that has much to teach us not only about gardening and growing, but also about listening.  Listening to the Word of God.  Being receptive to it.  Being open to it. Listening is among the hardest communication skills to acquire. I remember in my training to Priesthood, listening was stressed on more than preaching! Listening is harder now, as there is so much noise in the world distracting us from God and trying to drown out His Word.

But there is something striking and very hopeful to this parable. First, as much as this famous parable is about our being open to God and the seeds that He sends our way, it is also about God’s eagerness to share those seeds. This is a story about God’s extravagant generosity – and His boundless love. The sower doesn’t discriminate, doesn’t pick and choose.  He scatters his seeds — His Word, His Truth — anywhere and everywhere.  He doesn’t hold back.  He is generous beyond measure with what he has to offer.  He knows that it will somehow reach the richest soil. In terms of our business acumen, He seems to be investing in everyone, every time without sparing efforts.

History is full of examples of good dividends of God’s grace’s investment from most unlikely persons. From St. Paul to St. Augustine to St. Ignatius to Dorothy Day to Thomas Merton to Christie Martin (see pg. 5 of this Bulletin) and beyond.  The soil they sprang from wasn’t always ideal.  We are a church of rocks, and thorns, besieged by birds – and yet, amid this vast and surprising garden, God’s smallest seeds find fertile ground.  His Word takes root. Which brings me to one other significant point in this parable. In this story, the sower doesn’t change.  The seed doesn’t change. What changes is the soil. What changes are the conditions that allow the seed to be planted? What changes is the environment that lets the seed bear fruit. What changes, in fact…is us.

We like to think of ourselves as good people and in that sense we are the fertile soil that received the seed and produced much fruit. But since none of us is yet a saint we each have areas in our heart that are in need of spiritual cardiac surgery. Let’s compare ourselves to the people in the parable to check the condition of our ‘spiritual heart’.

The Church has very good reasons when she holds on to her teachings. Some of the teachings may be counter cultural. Whenever we reject part of the message of the Gospel, to use the words of Jesus today, the evil one has stolen the word from our heart. This is the symptom of a spiritual heart hardened by ideologies that is counter to Christ’s teaching (foot-path ground).

Have we ever been moved through a good experience in Confession or at Mass or in private prayer but we quickly went back to our old way of life because we could not see beyond some temporary difficulty or disappointment? This spiritual malady is a heart that does not sustain its enthusiasm (rocky soil).

Have we missed Mass, prayers or reading the Scripture because we were too busy or made up some other excuse? The heart forgets its Creator for created things suffers from a choking of spiritual graces (soil with thorny bushes).

Finally the fourth type of heart is this one: ….the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. (Matt 13:23)
Thanks be to God that we each in many ways hear the word, understand it and bear fruit. There is some of each of these four types of ‘heart traits’ in us. We could be all four of these at different times  of life. Opening ourselves to the abundance of the Divine Sower is a choice of transformative wholeness – it’s the best recipe for a healthy spiritual heart.
 

Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O