Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14 (Luke 8:8); Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23 or 13:1-9

In the readings for this Sunday we hear a great deal about seeds, and sowing, and growth. In the first reading, God speaks of the word which will give "seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats" and "shall not return to me void." The responsorial psalm also speaks of the preparation of land, fostering of plants, and an abundant harvest. The response, "The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest," is from the parable of the sower in the Gospel of Luke.

While the responsorial psalm includes a line from the parable of the sower in Luke, the gospel reading for this Sunday is the parable of the sower in the Gospel of Matthew. Depending on whether the long or short version of this gospel is read at the Mass you attend, you may hear just the parable itself, or you may hear the parable as well as the explanation which Jesus gives to the disciples. Regardless, this is a very familiar parable to many people.

Of course, we would all like to think of ourselves as the good fertile soil in this parable. That is only natural. However, obviously we are not all "rich soil" or "good ground." If we were, the world would be a much better place than it is, and presumably Jesus would not have needed to give us this parable! In truth, presumably none of us can really claim to be perfectly fertile soil. We all have things that we allow to get in the way of spiritual growth. So what is makes the ground good in this parable, and how should we go about making sure that we are good ground?

Jesus answers this question in His explanation of the parable, saying that the seed falling on rich soil refers to "the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold." First, then, the person who would be rich soil must hear and understand the teaching of Jesus. Note that it is not enough merely to hear the teaching of Jesus, it must be understood as well. It seems to me that here we have an example of one of the reasons Jesus gave us the great gift of the teaching power of the Church. If left to ourselves, most of us are all too capable of not properly understanding the word of Jesus, and perhaps in some areas we can be all too willing to misunderstand Him, because we do not want to hear what He has to tell us. Without a true understanding of His word, though, we are like the path, on which seed falls but can easily be stolen away by the evil one. Through the teachings of the Church Jesus guarantees us a way in which we can find a true understanding of His teaching. The understanding to which Jesus calls us in the gospel is not a mere intellectual understanding, though. The understanding must bear fruit, and that can only happen if the word is allowed to take root and grow. Furthermore, the "word" which must be heard here can also be seen as not just the teaching of Jesus, but Jesus Himself as the Word of God. This Sunday the first reading specifically invites us to this interpretation of the gospel when God says "so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it." These words from Isaiah obviously are fulfilled most perfectly in the Word, Jesus Christ.

When we look at Jesus as the Word, this gospel calls us not only to the acceptance and living of teachings, but to the reception of the person of Jesus into ourselves. If we are not to be rocky ground, this reception must be a deep and not superficial one. Jesus cannot be accepted "just a little bit," or else when our relationship with Him is challenged in any way we likely will fail to hold onto Him and may lose His grace, leaving us with only our sinful selves, spiritually dead. Jesus and the teaching of Jesus must not just lie on our surface, so we call ourselves Catholic, but do not live in a way that shows we are Catholics, or perhaps use Christianity as a cover for whatever political, personal or other agendas we want to pursue, whether in conformity with Jesus Christ or not. Jesus tells us that this kind of "faith" will not last. Rather we must receive Jesus fully into our hearts and allow Him to put down roots there, transforming us interiorly, and we also need to allow Jesus to foster and nourish the growth of our relationship with Him, through His teaching and particularly through the sacraments He gives to us in His Church.

At first glance it seems difficult to avoid being the thorny ground in the parable. In speaking of the thorns as "worldly anxiety" it might sound like Jesus is telling us not to have any troubles in this world. That is not possible, of course. Even the most isolated contemplative is not without material needs and troubles, and the spiritual danger Jesus speaks of here can be found in any state in life. Everyone has things they may worry about in this world, so Jesus obviously is not asking us to do the impossible and avoid such things altogether. In fact, there can be great merit in living through whatever cares and worries we have in this world with a spirit of Christian faith and reliance on God. In this parable, though, Jesus is warning us that these things can get in the way of our relationship with Jesus if we let them. It is up to us whether we allow them to do so. The cares and anxieties of this world most truly become dangerous thorns when we do not allow Jesus to take care of them, but instead permit them to grow in importance beyond our relationship with Jesus, so that they can overwhelm our spiritual growth. To love Jesus properly (and to love anyone properly, in fact) we must strive to avoid materialism by making sure that things which are only material are not more real to us than spiritual realities. If we allow "the lure of riches" to lead us to make purely material things our priority in life, then we will not be able to grow as we should in our relationship with God. Similarly, if we do not approach the troubles and worries of the world with faith in God, but allow "worldly anxiety" to be more substantial to us than Jesus Christ, then these things too will be obstacles to our spiritual growth.

One of the reasons it is so important to be aware of the dangers of materialism is because strictly material concerns and strictly selfish concerns seem to go together. As was just mentioned, we cannot even love another human person as we should if our heart belongs to the lifeless material things of this world. In looking at the relationship between the self and the other person, we see that materialism conflicts with love, and vice versa. Once we begin to make material things the priority in our lives, it is easy to begin to think of other people primarily as material as well. If we think of the other person primarily as only material, we are unlikely to be concerned with anything other than whether this particular material being pleases me. In this way the other person is being considered as an object of use, which is an offense to the dignity of the human person. (Karol Wojtyla discussed this ethical problem of seeing the other person as an object of use in great depth in his book Love and Responsibility, for anyone who is interested and has not yet read that book.) On the other hand, when we are truly concerned with the other, with the wants and needs of the other, and ultimately with the good of the other, not merely whether or how the other pleases me, we are already moving in a spiritual direction, in the direction of relating to the other in love, which is a relationship in which the Word of God can take root and grow fruitfully. Obviously what I am saying here has particular and special application to the relationship between man and woman in marriage, but by extension it can also be applied to all human relationships in one way or another.

In the end one of the most important things to remember about being "good ground" for the sower is that our role is a receptive one. That does not mean that our role is passive or inactive. Fertile soil in which a plant is growing is far from inactive. However, our relationship with God is always one of receptivity on our part, and that truth is illustrated through the image of the seed and the sower. In the gospel Jesus refers to Himself as the sower, and as we have seen in a sense He is also the seed. In the first reading, too, God compares His action to the rain and snow providing water for the soil. Ultimately, then, we receive everything we need from God. That does not mean things will always be easy, or that there will be no suffering. In the second reading Paul acknowledges "the sufferings of this present time," although he considers them "as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us." Further, Paul writes that "we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies." Sometimes the growth of the plant will be painful. Thankfully, though, we do not need to worry about pursuing God or growing by ourselves; God constantly comes to us, and will make us fertile soil for growth if we let Him. Sometimes we may, with the best of intentions, see life as something like our big project for God, in which we sit around worrying about how we can love God, or prove our love for God, as much as possible. Life is not really quite like that, though. Of course we should love God as much as possible, but we do not need to worry about how to work that out as long as we truly receive and welcome Jesus deeply into ourselves. Given a receptive heart in which to sow, God will see to the growth and fruit Himself.