15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 - Parable of the Sower

 

One of the hallmarks of the Lord’s preaching and teaching is his use of parables. Through parables, the Lord drew upon images, ideas, and customs from the everyday life of 1st century Israel—like farming and seeds. Through the parables the Lord challenged the preconceptions of his listeners and lead them to truth, utilizing familiar imagery that even children could connect with. Yet the parables, when pondered, are profound enough to challenge the holiest of saints.

And I say the parables are challenging because they are demanding. They demand some personal engagement, a decision, usually to change our thoughts or behaviors.

In the parable of the good Samaritan, for example, the listener has a choice. Who do I want to be in that story? Who does God want me to be? The self-occupied Levitical priest who passes by on the other side of the road when he glimpses a man in need? Or the good Samaritan who comes to the aid of the stranger? Hearing this parable, you have a choice.

In the parable where Jesus likens the kingdom of God to the pearl of great price, again the listener, has a choice. Will I pursue the kingdom of God, the values of God as the most important thing in my life, or not? Will I allow God to order my priorities, or not?

This weekend, one of the great parables—the parable of the sower—where Lord talks about the different types of soil. And each of those different types of soil represent the different types of responses to his preaching. And again, the listener has a choice: will I make my mind and heart receptive to the truth of God, or not? Will I clear away the thorns of my earthly attractions and distractions or not?

Let’s examine those four different types of responses to the Lord’s preaching. First there is the seed thrown on the path which is quickly eaten up by birds. Seed thrown on the sidewalk can’t take root, the sidewalk is too hard. So, too, hearts can becomes so hardened to God by sin and pride, that the preaching of the Gospel really has no effect on them. They might hear a nice sermon in Church or a fully accurate presentation of the Church’s moral theology, but they are unwilling to trade their sins for conversion and deep faith. Their pride doesn’t allow them to learn or experience anything new about God, because they don’t think they need to.

Now there appear to be a lot of hardened souls these days. But there are countless stories of souls, once hardened toward God, stories of atheist whose hearts melted when exposed to a beautiful liturgy, or a beautiful act of charity by a Catholic.

So just because a soul is hardened in pride, right now at this very moment, doesn’t mean they will be lost forever. God is at work to soften all hearts, and likely his instruments to accomplish this miracle are people like you and me. So we do well to remember the hardened soul in our daily prayers, especially the rosary.

The second type of soil described by the Lord was the rocky ground. Our souls are rocky ground when we listen to the Gospel without the willingness keep the faith through rocky times. Here is the person who is initially enthused about the faith; maybe they have a powerful experience of the Lord at a retreat or in Catholic school, maybe they go through OCIA, but they get a glimpse of the cross and instead of taking it up, they run away from it.

There’s probably a lot of lapsed Catholics in this category. Those who experienced some rockiness in their life, and gave up on religion. Or those who have dug in their feet in opposition to some church teaching. Our souls fail to bear fruit when we do this. And we are sadder for it.

But, again, we shouldn’t despair for these souls either. Plenty of lapsed Catholics come home each year. But again, these souls are brought back to God through prayers and penances offered up for them.

Thirdly, we heard of the seed sown among thorns. Our souls are thorny when they are full of the attachments and distractions of the world. Thorns like selfishness, lust, impatience, or resentment can cause the fire of faith to diminish, the seed of God’s grace to be choked out. Addictions especially can become so thorny they rip our souls to shreds. These spiritual thorns hinder the life God wants to grow in us. So, new Catholics and life-long Catholics must ensure that we stop the thorns from growing by making frequent examination of our conscience and frequent confession.

Lastly, the Lord speaks of rich soil—the seed sown in rich soil. Our souls are rich soil when we hear God’s Word, when we accept its ramifications even with the willingness to suffer for it, when we clear out the thorns, the distractions and the attachments, and we seek to understand and live out the Gospel the best we possibly can.

When we allow the Gospel to be planted deep in our hearts, when we do our part to nurture the life of grace through prayer and charity, our souls bear tremendous fruit.

We see the flourishing of grace particularly in the lives of the Saints. This week, on Wednesday, July 15 we celebrate one of the great Franciscan saints, St. Bonaventure, who is considered a sort of “second Founder” of the Franciscan Order. In order to cultivate that exuberant and joyful Franciscan Spirit, Bonaventure stressed the importance of studying the Word of God and serving Christ with a burning heart.

Is your heart on fire with love of God? If not, why not? It’s possible, you know. It’s possible for each and every one of us, for our souls to catch fire. That’s the ultimate good fruit that’s available to us through study, and prayer, and charity—a burning love for Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified.

That’s the harvest God of abundant fruit that God wants for us—a burning love of Jesus that transforms us. And again Bonaventure, and so many of the saints, show us how to achieve that. We must make our souls into rich soil for the Word of God—through  prayer, frequent honest and humble confession of sins, meditation on Scripture, and intentional acts of mercy.

May we do all that we can to make our hearts into that rich soil praised by the Lord, hearts like his, obedient to the Father, full of mercy and compassion, and willingness to carry our crosses for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

11th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024 - Parables of Growth

 One of the hallmarks of the Lord’s preaching and teaching is his use of parables. Through parables, the Lord drew upon images, ideas, and customs from the everyday life of 1st century Israel—like farming and family. 

Farming images--Seeds, plants, and trees feature significantly in our scripture readings this weekend—fittingly—as Ordinary Time is aimed at being a season of growth for us. The color green worn by the priest during Ordinary Time reminds us of the spiritual growth that each of us has the responsibility of cultivating within ourselves during this liturgical season. 

In the first reading, Ezekiel’s prophecy contains a very surprising image of growth—a majestic sprawling tree. And I say it was a surprising image because Ezekiel was prophesying during the time in the history of Israel when the tree of King David’s royal dynasty appeared to be dying. Half the tree, half the kingdom, had already been decimated—Northern Israel had been conquered by Assyria, and the southern region was also in serious trouble, Babylon had exiled many and demolished the royal city of Jerusalem.

The tree of David looked like it had just about had it. But in the midst of this quite depressing time, Ezekiel is tasked by God to gives a prophecy of new life: God will preserve the dynasty of David and it will grow once more. 

Now many must have scoffed at Ezekiel’s prophecy. For the ancient Near East had seen many nations annihilated and many royal dynasties exterminated and forgotten by history. And never had it been known for a royal house to be dethroned, exiled—and then established, let alone flourish to become tree that would encompass all the nations of the world. So, Ezekiel’s prophecy was a promise that was going to do something amazing.

And we know, that  prophecy has been fulfilled in Christ Son of David. And the new Israel, the Church. is that tree that encompasses and embraces the nations of the world. And yet, Ezekiel’s promise is new life is also relevant to our individual spiritual life.

We are never too old, or too sinful, that God cannot bring about new growth in us—new life in us. There is no one out there that is so lost, so severed from God, that they cannot repent and come to life.

The communion of saints is full of men and women whose early lives were so full of sin that you never would have expected their conversion. But through the prayers of the Church, the wisdom and holy example of Christians, and the grace of God, they came to faith and the flourishing of great sanctity.

If you simply looked to the early life of St. Augustine, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Francis of Assisi—if you met them as teenagers, you’d think, these people are doomed. St. Olga of Kiev was a cruel, ruthless, murderous ruler before her conversion. Blessed Bartolo Longo was an ordained “satanic priest” before returning to the Catholic Faith and eventually becoming a third order Dominican. They are living without God. And they aren’t just not going to church on the weekends. In the Communion of Saints there are former murderers, thieves, and literal devil worshippers.

Just as God brought new life to the seemingly dying dynasty of David, he offers life to all people, including those people whose lives look like a rotting tree. He converts atheists all the time, and so he can certainly bring about new life in our neighborhood and in our souls.

In the Gospel, Jesus uses the image of the growth of a seed to explain what he calls “the kingdom of God” –--God’s reign as king both in our individual souls and in the Church. And he explains that at times the growth of that seed is imperceptible, it seems like it is dormant, and nothing is happening. And then sometimes that small seed flourishes to an amazing degree. 

God is at work in the heart of every person on this planet to bring them to faith. It may look like the seed is dormant, that God isn’t evident in their lives. He is working in their relationships, and every time they glimpse up at the tower of St. Ignatius, and see our garden club hard at work or our parishioners feeding the hungry at the food pantry. 

Truly, when non-believers can see the difference our faith makes, they are being drawn to Christ. When they see patience, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness and self-control in us, they are being drawn to life.

Now the second reading didn’t explicitly use the image of a plant or tree, but St. Paul makes clear that the point of this earthly life is to grow into the people God made us to be so that we can enjoy eternal life in heaven. We have a longing for heaven, and to get there, we must cultivate faith, hope, and love. God is the farmer, and we are seeds, planted in the earth that we may grow to heavenly life until the time of the harvesting. God is planter and harvester. As the Lord says in the Gospel,  “And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” 

Each of us will face the sickle, the end of our earthly life. As St. Paul teaches, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil” so we should get busy cultivating the life of holiness taught and modeled by Christ.

Notice, too, the warning implicit in Paul’s words, “we walk by faith, not by sight”. In this earthly life, there are plenty of people who look to be happy, who seem to prosper. But Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes end up in the gutter all the time. Wealth, status, prestige, and privilege do not bring authentic fulfillment. The rich and powerful often lead empty, corrupt, perverted lives because they are not rooted in Christ. The scientific wonders of our technological age can never replace the need for God, the need to pursue heaven by cultivating divine life through prayer, right belief, the sacraments of the Church, and the acts of charity. 

As we make our way through this liturgical season of Ordinary Time, a season full of opportunities for spiritual and moral growth, may each of us consider: “where is the Lord calling me to grow this season”, “what spiritual fruits are absent in my life”, “what saint should I seek to emulate this summer”, “how is the Lord challenging me to grow in my prayer life, my moral life, my engagement in the works of charity, in working together with fellow Christians”, “who are the souls whom I should pray for more intentionally for their spiritual well-being or their return to the sacraments”?

May we be courageous in pursuing the life of the soul God wants to grow in us, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 

29th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Wednesday - Is this parable meant for us or everyone?

 “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”

This parable about consequences for servants being negligent in their duties seems to be aimed particularly at the apostles. After all, they have some serious responsibilities in caring for the master’s house, the Church. 

The bishop, St. Ambrose wrote, that this parable: seems to be set before priests, whereby they know that they will suffer severe punishment…if intent on worldly pleasure, they have neglected to govern the Lord’s household and the people entrusted to them.”

And yet, are there really any parables in the Gospels that aren’t applicable to everyone? If we are reflecting on a parable, and think, he’s probably not talking about me, you better read it again.

By virtue of our baptism, we all have a certain responsibility in the Lord’s household. We are all servants with responsibilities. Spouses have responsibilities for each other and for their children. Consecrated religious have responsibilities to fulfill their vows. Single people have to keep the commandments just like everyone else. So, this parable, like all the parables, are meant for everyone.

Now, there are a lot of Christians these days, perhaps even bishops, the successors of the apostles, who believe they will get special treatment on judgment day—a free pass, perhaps, for all the hard work, for their sparkling personalities. There’s a tendency to act as if we are special, or above the laws of God. 

St. Paul clarified this point in his letter to the Romans, when he said each and everyone will give an account to God at his judgment. God’s love for us is universal, the invitation to repent and believe is universal, but so is the fact that all will be judged.

We will be judged on the basis of our faith in the Lord, the measure of our love for Him, our neighbors, the poor, and our enemies. Did we extend mercy as we have been shown mercy? We will be judged based on our knowledge of the Lord's wishes and the particular tasks he gave us. And, we will be particularly judged based on how we used the talents the Lord has given to us.

This parable is certainly a call to conversion, a call to ensure that our single endeavor is to live for their lord in faithfulness to responsibilities he has given to us and the time that we have been given, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That religious indifference in our country and around the world may be transformed to radical commitment to the Gospel of Christ.

For the transformation of all attitudes which lead to war, violence, racial hatred, and religious persecution.

For the conversion of Atheists, hardened sinners, the religiously indifferent, lapsed Catholics, and the conversion of all hearts.

“That our parishes, animated by a missionary spirit, may be a place where faith is communicated and charity is seen.”

That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering. 

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.