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 persecution. We may experience prejudice and even discrimination sometimes because of our faith, but not genuine persecution. At least not yet. But 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 their family members and friends. In Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, 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, and your children are left as orphans? Imagine.

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 in Christ knowing that by embracing Christ they may end up dying for Christ before they reach adult years. Yet they still believe, they still pray, they still go to the Liturgy which can make 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. Persecution can really sharpen your focus, 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 hard to judge them, evaluate them, and frankly they can appear as blessings to many people even as, at the same time, these things can rob them of grace.

If we look, let's say to Western Europe, what do we see? Nations where the faith was lived and upheld and preached and passed on for century after century, as so many extravagantly beautiful churches 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 and Instagram. 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. They would rather raise the roof at night clubs on the weekends. No longer trusting in the providential care of God but entrusting their well-being, their health, and their safety totally to the governments of the countries they live in. And, as history shows, what could go wrong with that?

I'm using Europe here, because it's easier and better to look outside sometimes, 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 doing 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, capitalism, and greed of every kind. And yet those same rebels ended up becoming very materialistic indeed and raising children who were even more so. It wasn't materialism, capitalism, and greed that ended up going down the drain, because their campaigns were not supported by any spiritual strength or guidance. It was the Faith that was flushed away because even though the thorns and thistles were coming so fast, and they weren't seen as any threat at all. They seemed like an answer to difficulties. Why sacrifice? Why spend time in church? Why follow laws that forbid certain pleasures? Why stick to your spouse or raise children or give up any comforts and pleasures that you can enjoy for yourself?

As the churches empty, so does the willingness to sacrifice and to genuinely love others in the family and outside the family, or even to have a family at all. If Western Europe continues to give up the Faith, something else will surely take its place. I sincerely doubt that will bring peace and prosperity to the people, and I am fairly certain it will bring greater hardships on those who do follow Christ. As a country, we are also in line for these same things.

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 must persevere and shine the light of Christ in our 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. We have a God Who loves us, Who supports us, Who has shown us the truth about our lives in this world and invites us to share in His own divine life. Jesus tells us today: