15th
Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
Isaiah 55:10-11
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-23
“As the rain
and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the
earth… 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.”
… the edge of the path; … on patches of rock;
… among thorns; … on rich soil: [^] … he is without understanding; [^] … there
is no root in him; [^] … the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke
the word; [^] … he hears the word and understands it.
Whenever I hear this parable I thankfully
remember my time in the Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin. The short corridor to
the chapel was decorated with original stained glass windows portraying this
parable of the Sower and the Seed and every time I passed when it was light
outside the windows offered me a reminder, let’s say an examination of
conscience in terms of my responsibility to be a hearer and an “understander”
of God’s word; even though I many times sin or fail, as Jesus says to His
disciples and to us, I am most fortunate as I am among those who understand, as
are you, for by His great gift I was granted access to the mysteries of the
Kingdom. As He tells us in today’s Gospel:
“(T)he
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not
revealed to them… in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You
will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not
perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of
hearing, and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their
eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and
be healed by me.”
This phrase reminds me of a priest up in the
U.S. who some people tout as a modern day Fulton J. Sheen. His name is Fr.
Robert Barron and he has a network TV program in Chicago, but I know him from a
powerful internet presence, especially his videos on YouTube. While he teaches
on every imaginable topic, just like Bishop Sheen back in the 1950’s, I wish to
mention his attention to the criticism of religion coming from modern day
atheists, people on the edge of the path who just don’t get it; they don’t
understand or won’t understand God’s word at all. Fr. Barron is of a mind that
we should all be trained to answer these critics who reject God and His Church.
Father would like to see a revival and not just for priests and seminarians of
the study of apologetics, which Webster’s dictionary defines, and I think
satisfactorily so for our purposes, as: “1: systematic argumentative discourse
in defense (as of a doctrine) 2: a branch of theology devoted to the defense of
the divine origin and authority of Christianity.” For those of us who know our
catechism, it is basically standing up for our faith.
Fr. Barron lives in hope of converting these
atheists and that is good, for you and for me an apologetic stance in matters
of faith and religion means putting our lamp, the lamp of faith, on the lamp
stand where it belongs, and filling our space with light. For us it is first
and foremost, as I say, lighting the lamp of truth, the truth which comes from
God, and sweeping our house clean to make it ready to receive Christ, our
Bridegroom.
We may not always be 100% sure about
everything, but we do know and understand. In matters of faith we are not that
patch of rocks without depth. Perhaps we could be more profound, we could take
things more to heart and try better to understand, but we do know; we do
understand. In point of fact it is the worries of this world and the lure of
riches that choke the word in our lives.
Speaking of worrying, I worry an awful lot
about young people especially, as they are really too exposed to noise and
distractions today. One of the things which makes me cringe in traffic, for
example, are young people in vehicles seemingly just driving around with very
loud music blaring. Too much video and audio stimulation doesn’t deserve to be
called stimulation because its effect on us is, has to be numbing. We need to
think things through; we need to think things out and that can’t be done with
the TV always there to one side or loud music pushing everything out of our
space.
Older folk once upon a time listened to
music: way back, maybe, there was a program on the radio which received their
full attention every Sunday before dinner. I have a friend here in Trinidad who
really listens to music yet; she gives it here full attention for that hour or
whatever it is and even reads up on the artists or the composer. That is not
the kind of sound I’m talking about; that is still an active participation in
an art form and not something which just fills what might be an enriching
silence and perhaps a space for prayer.
… the edge of the path? … on patches of rock?
… among thorns? … on rich soil: where are you? Do a special examination of
conscience for yourself on those points! You may not have a corridor of stained
glass to remind you of the parable and for that matter neither have I for a
long time, but the parable is familiar and easy to remember in its four
distinctions; even without props we can still test ourselves for receptivity.
God’s word bears fruit in our lives to the extent that we are attentive to the
word and allow it a place deep within our hearts and for our lives. Why would
anyone reject God and in favor of what? I really cannot imagine.
I wish you a quiet Sunday with space and time
for reflection and thought. You may discover that the house of your soul needs
sweeping out as it has become cluttered for lack of attention on your part. Let
His light shine into every corner, clean well and make room for Him! Take on
your mission in the light of His word! Be light and salt for this world of
ours, which is often out of touch, without depth and totally distracted!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
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