Views From The Pews – Sunday, July 16, 2023 – Pentecost 7

My Dear Brothers & Sisters,

I share with you from a book called the gospel readings by Father Kenneth O’Sullivan.

Christ’s description of his audience, that day in Galilee, is unfortunately as true today as it was then.  His message of salvation has been preached to a great part of the world’s population, but the proportion of those who accept it and live up to it is about the same today as it was then.  There are millions of men and women today, who are like the seed sown on the unplowed path.  They refuse to accept the message and they have no thought for their future.  

There are others who see the truth and the consolation of the Christian gospel, but when it comes to making sacrifices for it, they give up.  The message did not sink into their hearts and minds.  They are like the seed which fell on rocky ground because the faith had no deep roots in their lives.  Others are like the seed which fell among briars and thorns.  They accepted the faith, and it took root in them, but later on “the cares of the world and the delight in riches chokes the word and it proves unfruitful.” 

The last class of Christians are like the seed sown on good soil.  They not only accept Christ and his teaching, but they live up to it, and, come what may, they are faithful to it.  These will produce fruit and will earn for themselves eternal happiness. 

Each one of us can look into his own conscience today and discover to which class he or she belongs. The fact that we are here, shows that at least we are still Christians; so, we do not belong to the first class – the gospel seed did not fall on the hardened path.  But what of the other classes?  Are some of us perhaps, like the seed that fell on the rocky ground: While Christianity makes no very difficult demand, we are all for it, but when it demands mortification, the curbing of passion, real sacrifices for our neighbour, do we forget our Christian calling then and ignore its precepts?  And how does our type of Christianity stand up to the temptations of the world – the desire to get all the enjoyment we can out of this life?  Are we chasing after wealth and power, using all our energies to rise in the world to be above our neighbour by fair or foul means?   If the above are our aims in life, our Christianity has been or is being choked out of us.

Let us hope that we all can number ourselves among those Christians who have sown their Christian faith in good soil and will produce the fruit of eternal life.