Seeds Scattered on Different Grounds

How did the priest know what I needed to hear? Were God and the priest  in cahoots to send me a message? The priest began the sermon by letting us know how he had stumbled being a good Catholic as he was growing up. Denying he liked Catholic school, a promise to the Blessed Mother broken, and ignoring a suggestion to pray to the Blessed Sacrament. Since the sermon was about sowing seeds, I wondered where he was going with the homily.

Lately, I have been wishy-washy about my faith. There is so much I question and after watching The Secrets of the Vatican, I was even more confused. And then, I heard Father say, "all through life, some accept, some reject, and some are in the middle and not sure what they believe." He had hit the nail right in the middle of my head. I know I am glad I am Catholic and I would not want to be in any other religion. I want to believe, yet question some of the actions of the church. My Dad always said, "When you join a club, and they have rules, you follow the rules if you want to belong to that club. You don't try to change the rules to please yourself."

But, back to today's sermon. The story of the sower spreading the seeds and seeds landing by the wayside were eaten by birds, seeds landing on rocky ground may have grown but died because there was no root, seeds landing on thorny bushes were choked and could not grow but seed that fell on good ground was able to grow and produce a crop.  When the priest said, "We have probably all been there." It hit me as an ah-hah moment.

Hearing the word, yet doesn't  understand, is like seed by the wayside. I realize I need to learn more about by faith. Hearing the word and immediately receiving it with joy is short-lived because like the seed in the stones it has no root and I can stumble and fall. The seed in the thorns, hears the word but material things get in the way and the plant may grow yet never bear fruit. The seed landing on good ground, hears and understand and will bear fruit. To me it means being a good Catholic.

I have heard the word of God but do not allow it to take root because I do not give it priority and it dies. I hear the word of God and if I allow the word to enter my soul I can grow in my faith. Even though I have heard this parable many times, today I heard it as it spoke to me. Today, the seed may have landed on good soil!