15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 12-13th, 2008

Oftentimes when we hear this gospel of the sower, we talk about the soil that was there in the story-whether it was the rock or the rocky soil or the good soil. This morning I want to take a different view. I want to look at it from the point of the sower as well as the seed.

"A man went out to sow." He didn't have any big machinery. At best he had an oxen, and the oxen pulled a single blade plow. The ground was probably not real kind because it had been packed. So tilling the ground would have been a major job. They didn't have the big machines that make the even rows as they till the ground and prepare the ground, then puts the seed in the ground. The gospel says, "A man went out to sow." And when he did, some would say this is how it shows the graciousness of our God. He wasn't concerned necessarily. He just scattered where it would go. He didn't make for sure, he didn't pull it back, he didn't get down and make sure they were all in the right place. According to the gospel, he just scattered the seeds.

And then they waited. They waited to see what would happen. Would it rain to help germinate that seed? Would the seed die because it didn't have any nourishment? Would they end up with a crop that would feed them, or without a crop and therefore not be fed? The seed was precious to them. Precious to them, because they knew without it they would not eat. They knew without it there would be no nourishment. "A man went out to sow."

My question today is how do we sow? What do we sow? How do we take this word of God which has been freely given, which has been nourished, which continues to be nourished-how do we take that word of God and help it to grow? How do we take that word of God and nourish ourselves and others with it? As sowers, what are we sowing?

My concern is this-that as Roman Catholics, as Americans, for a long time we did not fit in. In some places, we were even persecuted. Signs in windows-"Catholics need not apply." But somehow or another, we thought it was important to become part of this society. My question is how much have we given up to be part of it? And how do we now distinguish ourselves from it? Or do we? Do we want to belong so much that we are willing to sell ourselves short? Do we want to be part of this American dream so much that we lose sight of the word? That word that animates us, that gives us life? That word that calls us out of ourselves to be for others?

How do we sow the seed? My suspicion is that most of the time we do it by what we do more so than what we say. Our actions betray our beliefs. We can say all we want, but how do we really live the gospel? How do we really give it life? How do we sow the seed? How do we make it known? Because we are now called to be the sowers. We who have received the seed, it is now up to us to make it known--to give it life.

"A man went out to sow." What exactly are we sowing?