Homily for Sunday, 16 July 2017

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

This homily was given at St. Joseph’s College of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Have any of us ever tried to place ourselves within the scene of Jesus’ parable of the sower, or within any other Biblical scene for that matter? This imagining of ourselves “on scene” of a Biblical story or event is one of my favourite methods of praying with the Bible, one probably most famously pioneered by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. Ignatius calls this method of placing ourselves within a Biblical scene; taking in our surroundings with our senses— hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste— contemplation. It is a form of Lectio divina, a Latin term meaning literally “divine reading” with which some of us may be familiar.

The purpose of Lectio divina, whether Ignatian contemplation or several other forms is to lead us from an initial reading of a Biblical passage, an event or story, into a progressively deeper and more prayerful focus on the passage we are reading and hearing. Our attention may be drawn, more and more, to a single word or short phrase within the passage. In Lectio divina, I think, we are eventually drawn toward asking ourselves two questions the more we pray over a Biblical passage: What is the word or short phrase that attracts my attention, and why? What am I sensing, with my human senses of hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste, when I feel attracted or perhaps confused, or maybe downright discomforted by a part of the passage over which I am praying? Why do I feel this way?

With these two questions in mind, let us return to Jesus’ parable of the sower that we hear today in Matthew’s Gospel. Imagine being “on scene,” as one person among the great crowds hearing Jesus as he preaches this parable of the sower that has become particularly familiar to us. Are many of us not able to recite the parable of the sower almost by rote?

“A sower went out to sow,” Jesus begins. Almost automatically, we might continue the parable: There are several types of soil or surfaces onto which the seed, which we may safely assume is the word of God, may fall. “Some seeds [fall] on the path.” Others fall “on rocky ground.” Still other seed falls “among thorns.” Finally, some seed falls “on good soil” and brings forth a great yield; a crop one “hundredfold [or] sixty [or] thirty” times what was initially sown. Only the seed that falls “on good soil” thrives in this way. The seed that falls “on the path” becomes food for the birds. The seed sown “on rocky ground” is unable to take root and so it withers and dies. The seed sown “among thorns” is choked out.

Jesus explains later that “the path” onto which some of the seed falls represents the people who hear “the word of the Kingdom,” God’s word, but do “not understand it,” and so are vulnerable to Satan, “the evil one,” who “snatches away” this seed; this word of God that is sown but not understood. The “rocky ground” represents the people who at first receive God’s word “with joy,” but “fall away” as soon as adversity, “trouble or persecution,” strikes. These people have not taken God’s word to heart, where it is able to take root and thrive. Other people fall prey to “the cares of the world and the lure of wealth,” and so God’s word, competing against worldly priorities made into our gods; our idols, is choked out much like seed sown “among thorns.” The “good soil” stands for “those who [hear] the word and [understand] it” and so the seed “bears fruit” by the way these people hear, pray over, and live out God’s word.

But, in this whole long parable and just-as-long explanation of it that Jesus offers us, might anybody here have noticed that Jesus never says where any of his hearers; where we stand with respect to his parable. Jesus does not (or not yet, anyway) judge the quality of our “soil”; of our hearts for hearing, understanding, and living by God’s word. Jesus does not point out the unfortunate soul in the front row and say, “You, how rocky a heart you have”! He does not single out the wealthy person, or the person feeling guilty about something he or she said or did, and is trying to hide him or herself in the middle of the crowd so not to be seen. “You with the thorny heart: Do you really expect my word to thrive in there? Shame on you”!

“Now, there we go, you who sit anywhere but the front row at Mass, like a good, stereotypical Catholic: There is a humble person with ‘good soil.’ My word will surely take root and thrive in your heart”… But no, Jesus does not say this! He would not insult our intelligence in this way. Instead, Jesus honours our conscience. In honouring our conscience, though, Jesus leaves it up to us to discern, that is to think, sense, and pray over carefully, where we stand with respect to his parable of the sower. What kind of “soil” are we? Are we really the “good soil” we would like to be, or are our hearts at times more like the path, the rocky ground, or the patch of thorns in which God’s word cannot thrive?

Here I think Jesus, through his parable of the sower, is leading us in an examination of conscience. When we think of an examination of conscience, how many of us think of generating a “laundry list” of our failures; our sins since a particular point in time, maybe since our last confession? This is only part of an examination of conscience. Essentially, to make an examination of conscience is not only an occasional, even daily, accounting for our failures; our sins. It is to think, sense (with our senses, if we remember St. Ignatius’ way of placing ourselves within a Biblical scene, story, or event), and pray constantly, not only occasionally, over two questions: Where am I in this scene, story, event, my own successes, failures, and so forth? And where is God in all this; in my own life?

How good of quality is my “soil,” and how is God continuing to sow God’s word in me; in us, even when our soil is not sometimes of the best quality; when we are not fully disposed and attentive to understanding God’s word; even when we are conscious of having sinned? In this sense, our examination of conscience is connected to our “divine reading” of Scripture; to placing ourselves within these events, stories, and parables of the Bible and allowing the Bible to enlighten our own lives. St. Ignatius calls this form of “divine reading” (Lectio divina) contemplation, but he also calls it the examen. St. Ignatius’ examen is a key and constant part of his famously intense Spiritual Exercises that some of us may know or have undertaken.

Engage in this “divine reading” of Scripture. Place ourselves “on scene” in the Bible’s events, stories, and parables. This is the examen in Ignatius’ words, the examination of conscience to which we are called. It is a constant rather than occasional process and, I will admit, not an easy one. Of what quality is my “soil”; my disposition to receive and live the word of God; the word of God’s “kingdom”? How does God continue to sow in us, sometimes in spite of our less-than-ideal “soil” conditions? And then how are we called to be sowers in turn of God’s “word of the Kingdom”?

We are able to answer these questions; to examine our consciences well; to allow God to increase the quality of our “soil”— our hearts— for receiving his word; to sow God’s word in turn to our world, only if we are able to sense God’s word with our human senses. Jesus invites us to place ourselves “on scene”: Let anyone with eyes see; with hands and feet and a body touch; with a nose smell; with a mouth taste…

“Let anyone with ears listen”!