Parable of the sower

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells us the parable of the sower. He summarises the learnings to his disciples saying “When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.ⁱ As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The homilist reminds us today that evil in this world is real. The devil is not a myth and he has great powers of influence on earth. We need to be aware and prepare ourselves to face these spiritual attacks on us.

It is very easy to be lulled into a secular mindset to just focus on working for a better life and leaving God out of the picture. That’s one common big distraction that causes many of us to lose our faith. Myself included.

The challenge is now that I’m aware of Good news and how I need to proclaim it, what can I do to bear fruit?

In this Covid-19 situation where all physical meetings are cancelled and even our Landings ministry is on a hiatus of sorts.

But we’ve managed to get our weekly community sessions back online using Zoom and we are trialing a new run for a new parish. Its a huge learning curve for most of us to have to convert everything into an acceptable online experience but God seems to be leading the way for us.

The homilist challenges us all to be creative in this time to keep the Gospel alive. To keep bringing Jesus to people. Its not about the doctrine or theology, once people encounter Jesus in their own lives, then the change happens.

So I pray that the whole Church continues to innovate and sow the seeds of the Gospel. Some of us will bring returns of a hundredfold , some sixty, and some thirty. But as long as we keep growing, we pray it glorifies God.