15th Sunday

The parable of the Sower

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
A harried businessman, rushing from home to catch a flight to a distant city in order to close an important deal, narrates the adventurous ride and the valuable lesson he learned from a wise cabbie:“One day I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. The taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches. The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. The taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. To my astonishment the cabbie was genuinely friendly! So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? That guy almost demolished your taxi and sent us to the hospital!' This is when the taxi driver taught me what I now call 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage: frustration, anger and disappointment mounting inside of them. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it, and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.’”
My dear brothers and sisters, addressing the disciples of his day and of our own, Jesus relates the parable of the sower and the seed, reminding us that when the Word of God takes deep root in our lives, the whole world can be enriched.
We often assume that people will accept the Good News if only they could understand, but the reverse is also true that people cannot really understand God’s word until they first accept God in their lives.
The seeds fall on different types of soil, the pathway soil, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil. Each of these types of soil is said to represent a certain type of heart with which hearers receive the word of God. The question each of us must ask ourselves today is, “What type of soil for the word of God do I represent? Am I like the pathway where the seed cannot even sprout, or like the rocky ground where the seed sprouts but has no roots, or like thorny ground where the word of God is choked to death by worldly cares, or like the good soil that bears much fruit?
To respond to this parable adequately, we must view it from different angles.
The first is to look at the story as if we are the seed.
On the other hand, we can look at the parable as if we were the farmer. Vatican II and all the Popes since have stated repeatedly that each of us is called to be an evangelizer, to tell others that Jesus Christ changes lives eternally and that the place to encounter him most fully is within the Catholic Church. To get the few that bear fruit, lots of seed must be sown by lots of people. So regardless of whether or not we think we have green thumbs, we farmers are being commanded through this parable to get the seed out there, sowing it everywhere we go, undeterred by the birds, the weeds, and the scorching sun.
So As seed, our job is to get busy growing. As farmers, our job is to get busy sowing.
The seeds that are sown bear different results, resulting in four different destinies. But, according to Jesus, the reason is not because the seed lacks power. No. It is due to the condition of the soil.
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. (This is not my story though) Eventually the barber said: 'I don't believe that God exists.’ 'Why do you say that?' asked the customer. 'Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine loving a God who would allow all of these things.' The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. Just before he leaves the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept. The customer said to the barber: 'You know what? Barbers do not exist.' 'How can you say that?' asked the surprised barber. 'I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!' ‘The customer said. 'Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.' Barber was angry he said 'Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me.' 'Exactly!'- affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'
The seeds that fell on the path represent those who hear the word of the Kingdom of God but do not understand it. The Evil One comes and takes away what has been sown in their hearts (cf. Mt 13:19). The Evil One often uses this tactic and he tries to prevent the seed from germinating in people's hearts. This is the first comparison. The second is the seed fallen on rocky ground. This ground represents the people who hear the word and welcome it immediately with joy, but they do not have roots in them and are inconstant. When tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they fall away immediately (cf. Mt 13:20-21). The third case is the seed fallen among thorns. The two first characters were bad: the wayside was not the proper place, the rock was not a congenial situation for the growth of any plant; but this is good soil, for it grows thorns. The seed that falls among thorns can be likened to those who live in a perpetual state of distraction. Their eternal salvation, unfortunately, is not their primary preoccupation.
Finally, the seed fallen on fertile ground represents those who hear the word and understand it, and the word bears fruit in them (cf. Mt 13:23).
What is this fruit anyhow? In Gal 5:22 Paul says the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. Yes dear brothers and sisters 'Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your feet.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

14th Sunday Year A

Take my yoke
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
As individuals, we all carry heavy burdens of sin, anxieties about the future, and weariness in the search for God, or any number of other problems we face day-to-day. Our burden could be the death of a loved one, a broken relationship, an addiction, an illness, problems at home or problems at work; for each of us, it is something different. Jesus said in Today’s Gospel ‘Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, Take my Yoke upon you and learn from me.”
A “yoke” is the wooden collar that fit around the neck of the oxen and connected them to the plough.
In Jesus’ time, carpenters handcrafted every yoke to fit the ox perfectly. It should fit well. The oxen could plough all day and pull up to five times their weight.
But if the yoke did not fit well, it would rub and chafe and cut into the flesh of the oxen until every step was sheer torture. You can see why a carpenter would be known by the quality of his yokes.
It was also common practice to have oxen in a double yoke. In other words, there were usually two oxen joined together by the yoke and together pulling the plough.
They would train a younger, weaker ox by pairing it with a stronger, more mature animal.
As a result, the stronger one ended up bearing the heavier portion of the load and would lead the younger less experience ox on.Keeping this image of a double yoke in mind, we can begin to unwrap precisely what Jesus means when he says “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
He is saying that when we are bearing the burdens of human life, we need to remember that (1) The yoke was made to fit me, (2) That we are in a double yoke, and (3) That we are not pulling the load alone.Far from it, Jesus himself is right there next to us, pulling the load with us. And, like the stronger and more mature ox, he is even bearing the heavier portion. Know that we are not pulling the yoke alone and by our power but together with Christ and by the strength that comes from him. Remember that Jesus is not just a teacher who gives you homework but also a friend who helps you do it. Jesus shows us how to do this by showing us how he did it.
To accept the double yoke that Jesus offers us, and to allow him to bear the burden with us, we need to do two things.First, we need to admit that alone we cannot handle the burdens in our life, so we have to admit our need of the Lord and his help. Somehow, that transformation must happen in the act of surrender, in the "giving over" of our own daily labors, burdens and crosses to the Lord. Admitting to ourselves that we cannot carry them on our own, allowing Jesus to shoulder them with us; letting go of control—in that simple, childlike surrender, we discover the rest Jesus promises.
Second, we need to turn to the Lord in prayer. We need to entrust ourselves to his power and strength.
If we do not pray, we are most likely trying to pull the load alone. Trying to pull it alone would surely overwhelm the less experienced ox and it will surely overwhelm us.
Christ doesn’t do things for you; He does things with you.
Much of the burden of our lives is that so often we don't seem to be going anywhere. We must do as Abraham did, leaving behind all the things which prevent us from moving and submitting our whole lives to him - following him into a land that he will show us. At the moment we decide to come to Jesus we see exactly how far we are from him. Jesus says: Come to ME …
Then Jesus says: SHOULDER my yoke ….
Not only must we carry only the burden Jesus asks us to carry, we must learn from him how to carry it. A burden half-heartedly carried is very difficult to bear. How often do we not just push it along or drag it behind us? The "yoke" of Christ will become gentle and light if accepted out of love and borne with faithful love.
Many of you will know “He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother” a song released by the Hollies in 1969. You know the story behind the song. It is actually the motto of Boystown, the orphanage for boys set up in America by Father Edward Joseph Flanagan in 1917 and made famous by Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney in the 1938 movie by the same name “He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother”. In 1921, there was a young boy at Boys Town who had difficulty walking due to leg braces. Other boys would take turns giving him a ride on their backs.
One hopes that the words in the song will be their experience and they will declare with joy from the deepest part of their being:
It's a long, long roadFrom which there is no returnWhile we're on the way to thereWhy not share.And the loadDoesn't weigh me down at allHe ain't heavy, he's my brother.
St. Paul teaches us in Gal. 6:2 “Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.