Do you ever
wonder why it is that some people believe in God and take the
practice of their religion seriously and others don’t? How is it
that some people are converted and others aren’t? Why did I come
back to my faith at 19 and many of my friends did not? Why did so
many people listen to Jesus when he preached? Nobody knew who he was
and he had no education to boast about and yet he gathered a huge
following of people wherever he went. You could say that it was
because he was the Son of God; but nobody knew he was at the time. I
am sure it was because he was preaching the truth and people’s
spirits recognized this, because all of us are searching for the
truth; the truth about God and the truth about life and we
instinctively recognize it when we hear it.
Truth is
attractive to us and it pierces right to the heart, so that when we
hear it we want to hear more of it, even though it may be difficult
or painful for us to hear. Our faith is about a search for this
truth, which has been revealed to us by Jesus Christ. That’s why we
keep struggling with it, even though it can be a bit up-hill at the
best of times, but it is too important to ignore, and deep down, we
all know that. People flocked to hear Mother Theresa whenever she
spoke. They say that even his critics listened to Pope John Paul II,
because they recognized that he spoke the truth, even if they didn’t
like it.
In today’s
parable Jesus is teaching us two things about religion. First of all,
that it is a part of life that some people will hear about God and
ignore it, or become preoccupied with something else, or not like the
idea that it means you might have to suffer for it. Only a few will
actually hear it and really grow because of it, as God intended.
Those who do are generally in the minority, but the other thing is
that, the rich soil that he talks about, which bears fruit, doesn’t
happen by itself. In other words, it is not just fate whether we will
be open to believe or not, we have a part to play in it. Rich soil
only comes about with hard work and a lot of care; preparing the
ground, getting rid of the weeds and stones. If the word of God is to
grow in us, we have to make some effort to be ready for it and help
it to grow. We are not going to grow in faith just by watching
television. Jesus says, ‘Try to enter by the narrow gate. For the
road that leads to hell is wide and spacious, but the road that leads
to life is narrow.’ It may not be the most attractive road, but it
is the most worthwhile one. If we want our relationship with God to
grow, we must make it happen, by taking time to develop our faith,
through prayer, reading the Scriptures, listening to God. It won’t
happen without giving it time, a certain amount of time every day and
there is always time, because we always give time to what is
important to us. Would you expect a relationship with someone to grow
without giving it any time? Of course not, and faith is no different.
I think we
also have to be careful that we don’t come to the church with the
mindset of ‘What will they have on for us today?’ Our coming to
the mass each week is a combination of worshipping God, as God
commands us to, searching for God and trying to hear what God is
saying to us. Ultimately, we get to receive the Body and Blood of
Christ reminding us of how close the Lord wants to be to us.
Every so
often when I want to go to confession I have found myself before a
priest who I don’t like, but I have no other option unless I want
to put it off for another time. But that is when I try to remind
myself that it is God’s grace and mercy I am seeking, even if the
particular priest I find myself with is not who I would choose. I
think that is also a good approach to the mass. It is important that
we find ourselves a church which helps us to grow, but we also need
to remind ourselves what it is we come for. It is not a form of
religious entertainment, but our coming before God. It is better to
go to a church that helps you to grow, even if it is not your own
parish.
God has given
us free will, and He wants us to use it intelligently. Our future is
not already set out for us, we have a major part to play in it. That
is why God does not reveal the future to us and that is also why the
Scriptures tell us it is wrong to go to fortune tellers and psychics,
because it is only for God to know the future and also because they
can mislead us and influence us into making decisions for the wrong
reasons. God could give us the information we need much more
accurately than any fortune teller, but He doesn’t, because we
don’t need to know the future and God wants us to be able to make
decisions about our life, freely.
The Lord is
constantly throwing out seed on the ground. He continually invites us
to follow him, no matter what stage of life we’re at and it’s
never too late to start again. God will continue to call to us
to follow the path of faith, until we die. The invitation remains,
but the choice is ours.
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