for July 24
Friday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time

The Parable of the Sower in Matthew’s Gospel reminds me of an experience I had flying from New York to California. I was soon to begin graduate school there and I flew in a few months early for meetings and a preparatory visit. As the plane began to descend having just crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains I had an extraordinary view of the Central Valley—a rich agricultural region of California which counts among the most productive sources of food anywhere in the world. It was breathtaking to see the valley from the air. It was as if this beautiful green and vast farmland went on for eternity. As the plane slowly descended I could not help but think of God’s boundless Creation and the generous gifts of the earth that have been given to us. I was moved by this experience and to this day believe that I received a special spiritual gift on this flight—it was as if God was gently nudging me to see part of the beauty and richness of Creation in all its wonder and grandeur. The Central valley feeds and nourishes many around the world and it was striking to see it from the sky. This experience in my mind’s eye was like a lovely view from heaven.

I remember this experience in light of Jesus’s explanation of the Parable of the Sower. This parable is among the best known in the Bible and speaks to us of God’s continual offer of grace and sustenance to us. In this section from today’s readings Jesus tries to explain the meaning(s) of the story to his followers. The parable is not so much about the sower (as the name implies) but focuses more on the seeds and how these seeds turn out. Importantly, the parable expresses concern about the great potential for failure because of evil forces, personal weakness and limited commitment, and worldly concerns such as the desire for wealth. Of course, these are not only first century problems. These are also real problems for us right now.

The parable first leads me to think about my own failures and my personal sinfulness—and also those of our world. I cannot help but ask questions about how I personally care for the boundless gifts of God’s Creation that have been given to me and to those around me. One question for me and perhaps for all of us: how do economic and social forces that I benefit from lead to or cause improper care for the earth? Do my ways of living harm the rich land and the beauty of nature that God has given us and to all peoples to enjoy? Do the seeds we plant in life and in the lives of our children and grandchildren grow properly when our serious sinfulness and selfishness harms the earth and constrains justice in social and economic relations? These are big questions about big problems. Yet this parable is so rich in its ability to teach us about our lives in the world right now. This may be one reason why Pope Francis has so wisely addressed these kinds of questions in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’ On the Care for our Common Home, an important recent part of Catholic teaching on the environment.

For myself, the parable and Jesus’ explanation in today’s Gospel raises two basic questions: (1) how do I respond to, care for, and nurture all that God has given me in the service of others? (2) how do our communities and the wider world respond to and care for God’s gifts? A key message in this much-loved parable seems to be about our human ways of accepting and also rejecting what God gives us. God calls us to life with Jesus and with others. How generously and with what kind of openness to we accept this invitation? Years ago, one of my teachers once said, “we do not interpret the parables; rather, the parables interpret us.” Matthew’s Gospel today invites us to seriously examine our own responsiveness to God’s gifts of grace which are most perfectly manifest in Jesus’s saving ministry and teachings. It is here as his followers that we will find life in the present and into the future.
—Francis T. Hannafey SJ

Today’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website.