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 no genuine persecution. 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. Last year nearly 5,000 Christians all over the world were murdered because of their faith in Christ. But other forms of persecution can be found in many places especially in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It can 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 Faith 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. 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 heaven or hell for eternity. 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 can be difficult to judge them, evaluate them, and frankly they can even appear as blessings to many people even as, at the same time, they rob those people of God’s grace.

If we look at 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 instant messaging. 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 their own numbers with children that they raise to believe in Christ. They would rather raise the roof at night clubs on the weekends. No longer trusting in the providential care of God but instead entrusting their well-being, their health and their safety totally to the governments of the countries they live in. What could possibly 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 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. 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 were conquered, because their campaigns were not supported by any spiritual strength or guidance. Instead it was the Faith that was flushed away because the thorns and thistles that grew up in the field slowly and steadily over time were not seen as any threat at all. 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 or pleasures? And the re-paganization of Europe slowly but surely continues to spread.

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. And it will not bring peace and prosperity to people, and I am fairly certain it will bring greater hardships and suffering for those who choose to follow Christ.

But what about us? We, here must see the thorns that threaten our growth and our lives. We must persevere in our life in faith in Jesus Christ and continue with courage to 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, even when we are criticized or scorned because we live in places where thorns continue to grow in the field 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 will know that we shall still live—and because of that faith, we know how to live even today, in Christ Our Lord.