July 16, 2017

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“A Bad Farmer but a Good Father”

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

Many churches post outside their doors the topic of the Sunday sermon. It is usually an identifying characteristic of protestant churches. Catholic churches are more often identified by large Bingo signs. If I could post today’s homily topic if would be: “God is a terrible farmer but a good Father.” We discover this in Our Lord’s parable.

The farmer sowing seed is God but he tosses the seed, which is His Word, the Gospel, wildly. He scatters it helter shelter. He is not careful in his method but quite reckless inefficient and wasteful…quite a bad farmer!

Yet this reveals something beautiful about God. It reveals his abundant generosity. Moved by a rather reckless love, he is persistent in his efforts to draw us to himself. He is relentless in his desire that the message of life and salvation to take root in us. The Lord’s is always trying to get our attention, always revealing himself. He does not stop loving us.

The parable also tells us that while seed is the same for everyone the sower gets mixed results for his efforts. This is because the conditions of the soil are different. We are that soil—and in each person the quality of the soil is different.

For months, Laura dropped hints about what wanted for her birthday. “Honey, I would really, really, like this purse. Look here it is in the catalog.” George, her husband found pictures of the purse on his pillow, taped to the mirror of the bathroom…even on the dashboard of his car. George even got an email: “Here’s the link you can use to buy the purse I want for my birthday.” The morning of her birthday, Laura found a beautifully wrapped gift on the breakfast table. Excitedly, she tore off the wrapping to reveal a blender.

What went wrong? The message of the wife was clear and persistent but the heart and the head of the husband were not receptive.

It is so often that way with our relationship with God. Despite the many ways the Lord seeks our attention—the Scriptures, the Mass, prayer and how he tries to get to us through family and friends, the soil of our heart and mind is not receptive.

We are rarely just one type of soil but all three described by our Lord can be present to us at different times.

We can be that hard soil of a shut mind, an unteachable spirit, stubbornly refusing to consider anything but what we think. We can also shallow soil—enthusiastic for a time but quickly losing heart when the going gets tough. We can also be thorny soil—living with those many distractions and misplaced loves that inhibit our spiritual growth. In each case, the Word of God cannot take root.
So the Gospel challenge is to become good, receptive soil. We could do this in three ways:
 

1. Cultivate an attentiveness and openness to what Scripture reveals to us, especially the hard teachings that require us to change. “If Sundays don’t change our Mondays, what’s the point?”
2. Break up the stones of sin and bad habits. One of the best ways to do this is through sacramental confession which offers to everyone a new beginning.
3. Maintain a measure of detachment. Get rid of excessive baggage, disordered attachments that lead us away from prayer, from God and neighbor.

God may be a bad farmer, but he is a good father. What kind of soil does he find in us? He wants us our attention…he is like that wife…with that clear and persistent message….what response will we make?