Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time A
First, a cute story.
As she prepares to begin a new lesson, a teacher realizes that she can’t
take for granted that her students understand the necessary vocabulary. So she asks her class, “Can someone
please define the words ‘ignorance’ and ‘apathy’?” The question is met with complete silence. She repeats, “Is anyone able to explain
these two words?” Again,
nothing. So she turns to her prize
student and asks, “Bobby, can you tell your classmates the meaning of
‘ignorance’ and ‘apathy’?” Bobby
shrugs his shoulders and says, “I don’t know…and I don’t care.”
Now, a true story.
The father of a young priest was recently ordained a permanent
deacon. Father and son, deacon and
priest, were exchanging ideas about preaching. (I must interject that my own father frequently wants to
give me advice about my homilies…but that’s a different subject
altogether.) The priest shared with
his dad the sobering insight, “When you get up to preach, don’t presume that
they care.”
The seed that falls on
good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
This Sunday, Jesus tells us the parable of the sower. Jesus is the Sower; in fact, Jesus is
also the Seed: the Word of God come in human flesh. He doesn’t exactly get a very good return on his investment:
only one quarter of the seed he sows survives to produce any fruit. The difference isn’t in the seed that’s
sown (all of it is of the very highest quality); it’s in the condition of the
soil. Whether or not the ground is
ready to receive it makes all the difference in the world for the seed. Many will see and hear, but not all
will understand.
For nearly all of her history, the Church has carried on
this work of sowing the seeds of the Word and has done so by combating ignorance. In the face of many false notions, she
has taught her doctrine with clarity and depth—helping people to come to know
the truth revealed in Jesus Christ.
The Church could do this when she could suppose that people wanted to
know the truth: when one could rightly suppose that men and women—regardless of
their language, race, and culture—were seeking answers to spiritual
questions.
But nowadays, things are quite a bit different. What we’re up against isn’t only
ignorance, but apathy. What we’re
up against is sluggishness. What
we’re up against is boredom. The
Church keeps asserting answers…when people are no longer asking the
questions. The Church can teach
about the true nature of God…but what does it matter when God is whoever you
decide him to be, or has been basically rendered unnecessary? The Church can announce the Good News
of salvation and forgiveness….but what does it matter when sin is only how you
define it? The Church can point
out sure steps on the way to heaven…but what does it matter if you figure that everybody
gets to heaven, or you’re not even sure you want to go there yourself? It’s like trying to sell dental floss
to someone with no teeth: no matter how fine its quality or reasonable the
price, they’re still not buying.
This isn’t to say that doctrine is irrelevant. Far from it! The truth is always pertinent. We still have the answers—which have not and cannot
change. But you can’t help people
to know if you first can’t get them
to care. The soil must be ready to receive the seed.
How can we meet this challenge? If we want others to see that faith matters, then we must
make sure it matters to us. We
must begin by turning over the soil in our own hearts: removing the stubborn rocks,
tearing out the choking thorns.
Few people are converted by arguments and lectures, but many are won
over by a compelling real life example.
You and I—day in and day out, not only when we’re here at Mass—must live
and act in such a way that our lives wouldn’t make any sense whatsoever if we
weren’t disciples of Jesus Christ and members of the Catholic Church. What difference does faith really make
if we’re simply like everybody else?
The best way to convince others to care is to be sure we passionately
care ourselves.
Jesus is still sowing good seed in abundance. Let’s make ready the soil to receive
it. Let’s help our friends and
neighbors to rediscover the questions.
Let’s show them how just much Jesus and his Word really matter.
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