Dear parishioners & visitors,
A warm welcome to our new Parochial Vicar Father John Lado. Please join us in the parish hall after Mass today to meet him. And a warm welcome to our summer seminarian Brendan Ryan who will be with us through July 25th.
Today’s Gospel leads me to ask, ‘What soil do you have in your life?’ We want fertile soil, but sometimes it is hard to achieve in our lives at any given moment. We can choose to be the Sower that simply throws seeds on a path with no effort to find soil, simply thinking the seeds will take root and somehow grow. But the seeds are left without protection, and the birds swoop down and eat all the seeds. This Sower is going about life wasting time without even attempting to seek Christ to know where his life is meant to go. The second Sower throws his seeds on rocky ground with little soil. This Sower does not look enough at what he needs to do for the seed to take root and grow. He gave some thought to the seed needing to find soil but did not make the effort to find the right soil for growth and nourishment to occur in his life. The third Sower throws his seeds on a ground with soil, yet it is among thorns. This Sower has elements in his life that need to be cleared away before he planted the seeds. While he saw initial growth, that growth was stopped by the thorns in his life and that growth could not take hold in his heart for a lasting presence of what was needed to sustain him. The final Sower seeks out and prepares a rich soil, then throws the seeds, and those seeds take root, grow and nourish him. They provide for him all he needs to sustain him. At times in our lives, we have probably had all four types of soil. However, we know if we seek out our Lord, especially in hearing the Word of God and receiving the Sacraments to nourish our faith, we can see a path to the fertile soil. May this Gospel remind us to always strive to seek the fertile path to our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Yours in Christ,
Father Dan