Homily for Sunday, 13 July 2014– Parish Patronal Feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 65:10-11, 12-13, 14; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23

Who among us would consider ourselves to be blessed or gifted? Who among us are among the good soil over which the seed, the Word of God that Jesus describes in today’s Gospel reading, is sown?

With some boldness, I say that I would consider each and every one of us here to be blessed or gifted, perhaps not in the same way from person to person, but blessed and gifted nonetheless. With notable, even some scandalous exceptions, even here in our city of Rochester, we live in affluence relative to most people in our world. We live in a peaceful and secure country. We gather in this space; as one St. Kateri Parish to worship God. Even more significantly, I believe that Jesus does not only speak to a people who lived thousands of years ago in a distant land when he says: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.” Jesus speaks primarily to us, here and now.

To be a people that is blessed and gifted; to be baptized into this communion of brothers and sisters in Christ carries with it an important responsibility. We are called to be the “good soil” of which Jesus speaks in our Gospel reading while at the same time co-operating with our Lord in sowing the seed; the Word of God with which we are blessed; which dwells and multiplies its blessing in every one of us. This kind of sowing of the seed, the Word of God, is called evangelization; literally spreading good news.

How, then, are we to be the “good soil” while at the same time being sowers of the Good News; the Word of God, after Jesus Christ? This task may seem daunting to us. It may seem overwhelming for us to think of being at once “good soil” and sowers, or evangelists, when we think of our own shortcomings; when we think of the times when we have not been as good soil as we were created and baptized to be.

Have we ever experienced being the few grains of soil “on the path,” incapable of sustaining growth of the seed; the Word of God? When have we not understood the Word of God well enough in order to spread it? This lack of understanding could be because at times we have not listened well enough to God’s Word that has been communicated to us, or because we as Church have simply not communicated the Word of God effectively enough for it to be received and to bear fruit. Are we at times “the rocky ground” that receives the Word of God with a vibrant but short-lived joy that cannot sustain itself in difficult times in our lives? Are we sometimes the thorns of “worldly anxiety and… riches” that choke out the Word of God? The affluence and power of our country in relationship to most of our world often serves the good particularly of the less powerful; the needy; the poor, but it can easily become self-serving.

Have not many if not all of us had experiences of being soil that cannot sustain or allow further growth of the Word of God; experiences of failure; experiences of sin? And yet, only if we do not allow these experiences to make us afraid, but we ask God and one another for forgiveness and the strength to spread the Good News of Christ, will we be effective evangelizers, at once “the good soil” and good sowers. As Pope Francis has said repeatedly since he became pope, we are called not to close in on ourselves as a fearful Church, but to go out to the periphery. We are called to sow God’s Word among the many “prophets and righteous people” of our time of whom Jesus speaks in our Gospel reading; who have yet to hear and to see the Word of God proclaimed and lived; who have lost hope; who are poor; who are hurting; who are estranged from the Church; from God, for whatever reason.

Pope Francis has also said repeatedly that we cannot tire of asking for forgiveness from a God who does not tire of forgiving us; of watering and fertilizing our soil; of helping us to sow the seed of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Even more significantly, our pope has said, we cannot be afraid of making the occasional mess when we are sowing. The alternative is not sowing at all; the alternative is to stifle God’s word with which we are all gifted. This would be a shame.

We are invited to be at once sowers of the Word of God and the good and fertile soil for this Word to bear fruit. This entails being unafraid of making the occasional mess. Well before I was a Basilian, I worked as a mushroom farmer. In each mushroom growing room, we farmers first had to roll the soil from large machines onto the growing beds. Second, we would sprinkle the mushroom spores (which were similar in appearance to grains of rice) between layers of soil. These two tasks, especially the somewhat haphazard sprinkling of the spores, were hard and messy work. Most of the spores would land on the soil; a significant amount would not. These tasks in the mushroom farm have long reminded me of Jesus’ parable of the sower. Certainly as mushroom farmers we were unafraid of making a mess or of some of the “seed” (or spores) missing the soil on the growing beds. The same must be true of the evangelist; the sower of the seed that is God’s Word; the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We as evangelists; as both sowers and good soil, are invited to trust that, even as we experience weakness; as we experience our own sin; as we experience lack of reception of the Word we sow; as we make the occasional mess, most of the seed we sow will, by God’s grace, find fertile soil; faithful hearts in which it will multiply and spread.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, patroness of our parish whose feast we celebrate today, is an example of trusting in God as she evangelized her own Native American people. In response to her own frailty; her (and our) own disposition to sin, St. Kateri lived a life of penance. But she did not allow her experiences of frailty; of poor physical health for much of her life; of often sluggish reception of the Christian faith among her own people to inhibit her from sowing the seed of the Word of God. And so, as we have prayed in our opening prayer of this celebration, we recognize St. Kateri as one who “gathered” many “into [the] Church from every nation, tribe, and tongue.”

Our calling is the same now as for St. Kateri centuries ago: To gather together a people “from every nation, tribe, and tongue” who will “magnify [God] in a single canticle of praise.” Our calling is to be at once the “good soil” and good sowers after our Lord Jesus Christ. Imagine if we become the evangelists; the “good soil” and good sowers whom Jesus invites us to be, how quickly we will be able to spread the Word; the Good News of God! We will be able to echo the words of Jesus, of our Gospel reading, in the ears of people who will hear the Gospel and see it in action for the first time; people near and far: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.”

These are the words Jesus speaks to us today. These are words and actions exemplified by St. Kateri and the communion of saints who raise our prayers to God.  These are words and actions that we, a people blessed and gifted with the Word of God are invited to practice and speak to those around us; to a world continuously in need of the Good News of Jesus Christ. And the same Jesus Christ promises us that, if we sow the seed of God’s Word while remaining fertile soil for God’s Word ourselves; if we trust God to strengthen us in our sowing, our efforts will bear fruit beyond our imagining.