Why do two people hear exactly the same Gospel, yet one becomes a saint and the other walks away?
That is the question Jesus answers today.
The seed is the same.
The Sower is the same.
The difference is the soil.
Jesus is not really talking about farming.
He is talking about us.
He is asking:
“What kind of heart do I have?”
Some seed falls on the path.
It never sinks in.
The evil one snatches it away.
How often that happens.
We hear the Scriptures every Sunday.
We hear the prayers.
We hear the homily.
Yet before we have reached the church door, we cannot remember a single word.
Not because God’s word is powerless.
But because our hearts were never really listening.
We were present in body.
But absent in mind.
Then comes the rocky ground.
The seed springs up quickly.
Everything looks promising.
There is excitement.
There is enthusiasm.
But there are no roots.
As soon as life becomes difficult…
Faith disappears.
How many people begin with great enthusiasm?
They come to Mass.
They pray.
They are full of joy.
Then suffering comes.
Illness.
Disappointment.
Loss.
Criticism.
And suddenly they ask:
“Where is God?”
Jesus is warning us that faith cannot survive on feelings alone.
It needs roots.
Roots in prayer.
Roots in Scripture.
Roots in the sacraments.
Roots that grow deeper year after year.
Then comes the third soil.
Perhaps this is the most dangerous.
Because the seed really does begin to grow.
Jesus says:
“The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word.”
Notice He does not speak first about terrible sins.
He speaks about ordinary things.
Worries.
Money.
Success.
Busyness.
Distractions.
Little by little, Christ is pushed to the edge of life.
Not rejected.
Simply crowded out.
There is always one more job.
One more hobby.
One more screen.
One more distraction.
Until there is no room left for God.
A neglected faith eventually becomes a dying faith.
Then there is the good soil.
The person who hears.
Understands.
Perseveres.
And bears fruit.
Thirty-fold.
Sixty-fold.
A hundred-fold.
That is God’s desire for every one of us.
He does not sow His word merely so that we know more.
He sows it so that we become different.
Holier.
More loving.
More like Christ.
The first reading reminds us that this has always been God’s desire.
Through the prophet Jeremiah He says:
“I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
God has never abandoned His people.
Again and again He raises up shepherds.
Prophets.
Apostles.
Saints.
To call His people back to Himself.
Then Jeremiah looks forward to a day when God’s presence will dwell among His people in a new way.
That promise is fulfilled in Christ.
Today we no longer journey towards the Ark of the Covenant.
We come to Christ Himself.
Present among us.
Especially in the Holy Eucharist.
St Sharbel understood this better than most.
He spent many years as a monk.
Then he sought an even deeper silence as a hermit.
People often imagine that he ran away from the world.
He did not.
He ran towards God.
He discovered something that our noisy world easily forgets.
That silence is not empty.
Silence is where we learn to hear God.
While the world was rushing from one distraction to another, Sharbel remained before the Lord.
While others sought comfort, he embraced simplicity.
While others accumulated possessions, he refused even to touch money.
He wanted nothing to distract him from Christ.
That is why people travelled great distances simply to be near him.
Not because he was famous.
Not because he was powerful.
But because his life bore fruit.
When a tree is healthy, people notice the fruit.
When a Christian remains close to Christ, people notice something different.
Peace. Joy. Wisdom. Holiness.
Perhaps that is the question today’s Gospel asks us.
If Christ looked at the soil of my heart today…
What would He find?
A hardened path?
A shallow layer of soil?
A heart crowded by worries and distractions?
Or a heart ready to receive His word?
The beautiful thing is this.
Soil can change.
Hard ground can be broken up.
Stones can be removed.
Weeds can be pulled out.
That is what repentance is.
Allowing God to prepare our hearts so that His grace may bear fruit.
Every Mass is another moment when the Divine Sower walks among us.
Again He scatters His word.
Again He offers His grace.
Again He gives us His very Body and Blood.
The question is never whether Christ is generous.
The question is whether we are ready to receive Him.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 