The Parable of the Sower gives us an impactful insight on our God, ourselves and what God expects from us. A sower plants, waters, weeds and harvests. A sower does these again and again. He is always back to start every planting season even after a poor harvest. As a sower is to his plants, God is to us. He is with us all throughout our life’s journey, during the good and especially the difficult times. Even after we sin, and hurt Him because of our sins, He is there patiently waiting to forgive, standing by the door of the confessional to embrace us, looking forward and hoping for our positive response to His call, that is, a firmer resolve to avoid sin and whatever leads us to sin. And He does these again and again.
Our hearts represent the soil in which the seeds of God’s Word are sown. And honestly, when we look at the variety of ways people respond to God’s Word, we can see that there are indeed different types of soil. But, however different the soils may be, God calls each one of us the same way: to bear fruit – fruit for the nourishment not only of our selves, but of many – as we are all called to be active participants in God’s enterprise: to do good, to be there for others, especially the weak and the marginalized; to be concerned, to help, to comfort and to journey with those God sends our path.
Jesus is the First Sower, and we are called to imitate Him. As Jesus scattered seeds, as He preached the Gospels to others, we as His disciples today are also supposed to be sowers: to share the Good News with those we are privileged to encounter in our lives. And as we do this, there will be occasions when it seems no one is watching or listening, and other times when it seems like we are having a positive impact at the beginning, but with little lasting effect. When we are unsuccessful, which may happen more often than not, like Jesus we must keep scattering and never lose heart because of discouraging results. We must be resilient and persevere. The seed is such a treasure that it must be sown.
As a community here at Saint Raymond’s, we participate in God’s call for to be collaborators in His vineyard here in Dublin, and in the homes we consider as the domestic churches. We realize that we are best together, and this is not a work done all on own own, but with Jesus always as the First Sower!
As I write this weekend message, I am on my last leg of being away from the parish for the last three weeks. At the moment, I am with 93 priests from 50 (arch)dioceses in the US [and 4 of us from the Diocese of Oakland] attending the School Pastors’ Institute in Notre Dam University in Indiana – praying together, sharing best practices about pastoral ministry to schools, and affirming our collective desire to intensity Catholic identity amongst all our stakeholders – students, teachers/staff and families.
Please pray for us, as we commit to pray for all of you. See you soon!!!
(For the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2023)