Homily

This parable of Jesus helped the early Church to understand itself, but of course, it serves as a point of reference for the Church in every age. The seed that falls on rocky ground and has no root represents those who believe for a while, but they fall away in the time of trial. And that trial is almost certainly thought of as persecution. We may experience prejudice and even discrimination sometimes because of our faith, but no genuine persecution. Yet, let us remember that there are many places in the world where our fellow Christians and fellow Catholics are severely persecuted and often in danger of losing their lives, or the lives of those who are family members and friends. In Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ethiopia, Egypt, India and many other places, violence against Christians, including murder, is a daily threat that people must live with. It is one thing here in America for a parent to say that their teenaged son doesn't want to go to Liturgy on Sundays. It is quite another thing for a parent to take their teenaged son to Church in Syria and wonder if he will be shot by rebel forces or bombed while praying after Communion in Church. And if not him, what if it's you who lose your life, and your children are left as orphans? Imagine that on your mind as you faithfully come to church.

It would be so very easy for people to fall away from faith in these kinds of circumstances, in these situations where it is difficult for us to fully appreciate the pressure that faithful Christians face every day. It must take a great deal of faith to raise your children to follow Christ knowing that by embracing Christ they may end up dying for Him before they reach adulthood. Yet they still believe, they still pray, they still go to the Liturgy even though that makes them targets on any given day. The Church of the Martyrs still exists as it did so many centuries ago, and there are still plenty of evil men who glory in the killing of the followers of Christ.

At least for the present time, this is not the danger we face. Our danger is in being the seed that fell among thorns, that we can be choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life and fail to produce mature fruit. It's quite a different situation than those who face persecution. If you face persecution your focus can be very sharp, because it can mean life or death, and not only life or death in this life but also life or death in the next world. However, riches and pleasures can come at us in so many different ways and measures that it is not always so easy to focus a defense against them. It's harder to judge them, evaluate them, and frankly they can even appear as blessings to many people even as, at the same time, they rob people of grace. When folks see their neighbors acting this way or that, they are tempted to go along with the crowd. When they see others accepting sinful deeds as proper behavior, they are tempted to see them as acceptable, and when others start screaming, they can easily allow themselves to be bullied into silence as the thorn bushes keep growing.

If we look to Western Europe, what do we see? Nations where the faith was lived and upheld and preached and passed on for century after century, and I myself have seen so many extravagantly beautiful, inspiring churches that testify to the belief of the people who built them and prayed in them generation after generation. Now so many of those churches are nearly empty on Sundays. People have not given up the faith in two generations because of the threat of persecution. They have given up the faith in favor of nicer cars, flat screen TVs, and expensive clothing. They have given up prayer in favor of smart phones, texting and Facebook. They have given up being followers of Christ because they won’t be told how to live. They have given up family prayer because they have also given up on family life through contraception and abortion—no longer, so often, even replacing themselves with two children who are taught the Gospel message. They would rather raise the roof at night clubs on the weekends than raise children. No longer trusting in the providential care of God they entrust their well-being, their health and their safety totally to the governments of the countries they live in. What could go wrong with that?

I'm using Europe here, because it's easier and better to look outside sometimes, than to judge what is going on in your own country. People in Western Europe are looking for the good life, and there is nothing wrong with that. We should all look for the good life and embrace it as fully as we can. But the question is, what is the good life? Is it really found in an ever-increasing amount of material goods and services? I remember when I was young the great youth movements of so many kinds in Europe (and of course the U. S. as well) crying out against materialism, poverty and greed of every kind. But those same rebels later ended up becoming very materialistic indeed and raising children who were even more so. It wasn't materialism, poverty and greed that were conquered, because their campaigns were not supported by any spiritual strength or guidance. It was the Faith that was flushed away because the thorns and thistles were coming so fast and so regularly that they weren't seen as any threat at all—just part of the landscape. Why sacrifice? Why spend time in church? Why follow laws that forbid certain pleasures? Why stick to your spouse or raise children and give up comforts and pleasures when you could be enjoying yourself?

As the churches emptied, so did the willingness to sacrifice and to genuinely love others in the family and outside the family, or even to have a family at all. People put their faith in the state because they thought they could control the state. As Western Europe continues to give up the Faith, another religion is slowly but surely taking its place. I sincerely doubt that the new religion will bring peace and prosperity, and I am absolutely certain it will bring greater hardships on those who do follow Christ.

We, here, we must persevere in our life in faith in Jesus Christ and follow His way. We must persevere and teach this way to our children. We know they may not always accept it, or they may turn away for a while because pressure from the world is so strong. But we must persevere and shine the light of Christ in our families and communities even when it may be inconvenient or uncomfortable because we live in places where thorns are shooting up and people are in danger of being lost. We must persevere because we too can be easily tempted and easily choked off from the life of grace unless we are careful to keep a hold of the cross of Christ, for ourselves, for our children, for our neighbors. We must persevere so that at the end of our lives we know that we shall still live—and because of that, we know how to live even today, in Christ Our Lord. He is Life, He is Light, He is Love. May we follow Him and praise His name forever!