When I returned from my postgraduate studies in Rome over 30 years ago, I began teaching here in the seminary at that time before it became the Catholic Institute of Sydney.
I also became involved in the pastoral and spiritual formation of the students for the priesthood and it was only then, being increasingly involved in the lives of some of those students, that I began to understand, although in a very limited way, what it means to be a parent.
And now I salute any parent that I meet, understanding both the responsibility and frustration of parenting. Parents have a responsibility to those placed in their care.
They teach the values and ideals which are important, they also feel frustrated when the person in their care often rejects what they say. And I sometimes feel absolutely helpless when I see people struggling with their faith.
I saw that with the students of the priesthood undergoing those struggles of discernment that I had to go through myself, I could support them, but I could not rescue them. They had to live through it in their own way, and I’m sure parenting must be full of similar frustrating experiences.
Why do I talk about frustration? Because I think Jesus was a little frustrated in today’s gospel as well. He’d been given the responsibility, the task of proclaiming the kingdom of God to the people, and yet he could not, or indeed would not, manipulate their response to His word.
The parable of the seeds offers us an insight into the mind of Jesus, who could see the various responses of his word about the kingdom. And there are, if we take the text, four responses.
Firstly, the seed under the edge of the path which never sprouts, because evil already exists in the heart of the hearer. Evil has its clutches on the person who is thus unable to even begin the process of conversion.
Secondly, the seed that falls on rocky ground it sprouts quickly, full of joy at the newness of life that has offered it, and yet there are no foundations there. The soil has no depth. The first upset, the first bit of heat from the sun and this kind of person gives up, probably whinging that it was never possible in the first first place.
Thirdly, the seed that falls among thorns. These people hear the word of God. They try to respond, but they have been unable to distance themselves sufficiently from the worries and demands of daily existence. There is no still centre that can allow the word to grow. So eventually, the anxieties of human life and society choke the whole process of conversion and growth.
Then, of course, lastly, we have the seed that falls on good ground and bears fruit. One hundred, 60, 30.
Now, this refers to those who see the benefits of God’s word, the message of salvation, and they go all out in following the Lord’s teaching, placing everything else behind the primary goal of conversion and growth in faith.
Now, if you like me, we like to think you’re part of the fourth group. Am I right? After all, we’re here this evening in this place of worship. We’re ready to listen to God’s word. We’re striving to put Christ’s teaching into practice, and all that is true. Our very presence here indicates our willingness to be disciples. Yet it is not always so, is it? We must accept that we can identify also with the three other responses.
Firstly, there are times when the ethics and values of Christianity don’t even get a look in. We go all out to follow the dictates of our own desires, and we refuse to even allow the seed of God’s word to begin germinating in our hearts.
Also, secondly, there are times when we give up. God doesn’t care. God doesn’t help me because God doesn’t give me what I want, we’re unable to see that often it’s our own shallowness or our own lack of commitment that is really to blame for the seeming disasters that sometimes overtake our faith journey.
Lastly, there are also times when we get greedy, when we get overconcerned with the demands of our secular and materialistic life, so that as a result, the values of Christianity are eventually thrust behind our backs, deliberately forgotten for a time.
And so, we are able to see all four situations in our lives, my friends. All four responses to our Lord’s gospel message.
But what is important to do is every day to stop and reflect where our journey of faith is heading.
The Lord has inculcated His values within us by means of the Scripture and our church tradition. It’s now up to us as adults in the faith to walk along our own individual roads of spirituality. The Lord is there to help us, to support us, and even carry us at times. But He will act like a true parent and refuse to rescue us. We have the means and we have the ability to find the ground or the soil that will bear fruit.
Our free will, our choice is needed here, so that our response is of the best kind, freely decided upon, freely giving, for our God respects us and never imposes His will upon us. We must choose to follow His will.
And so, the words of Matthew’s gospel for today encourage us to continue striving to sow the message of Christ in soil that will bear fruit, and that fruitfulness will vary, of course, at different points in our journey – 100-fold, 60, 30.
But overall, what we’re being encouraged to do here is never despair. We’re encouraged to open our minds and our hearts to God in prayer and in our daily activity, so that the Word may take root in us and help us grow continually in faith and love.
And we know that the words of Saint Paul in today’s second reading are there to encourage us as well, where he writes: “I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us.”
And indeed, the parable from Isaiah is a call to conversion, and it underlines the effectiveness of the Word of God, which always brings about, in the end, what it was sent to do, as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating.
So, the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
Fr John McSweeney is the Parish Priest at The Catholic Parish of the Upper Blue Mountains.
