The Gospel for Sunday, July 16, was the Parable of the Sower and the homilist took an approach I don’t think I had heard before. He described the sower as a very unwise farmer. Instead of having a plot of land to cultivate he just walked around scattering seeds anywhere he walked with no idea if they would take root or not, without knowing if there were weeds or rocks or good soil. Never looked at it that way before; the presumption was always that this was a farmer in his own farm field with maybe a fence or at least some way to mark off the boundaries.

The homilist continued and compared the sower to God (as usual) but with the notion that God never stops scattering the Word, never looks where it is falling, and knows that wherever it lands there is the possibility that it will take root and produce fruit of some sort.

God knows we never experience life the same way every day or respond to the experience the same way every time, so why should God stop sowing just because God does not know how we will handle what life throws at us? God will always be there scattering the seeds and welcoming the possibilities.

We get to make choices; God just throws the seeds that we might catch and make good choices with sometimes. God keeps throwing the seeds and we keep catching them sometimes or missing them others. We all have the ability to let the seeds grow and flourish or not. God makes sure the seed will always be thrown.

As the Word keeps falling all around will our responses and actions make us stumble and ignore what good might have been done, or become stronger in our ability to meet situations with faith, patience, love, and hope?