Once again the gospel text presents us with the Parable of Sower. Today we have Matthew's Account – Mark and Luke also include this teaching. Jesus presents the Word of God as the "Good Seed" the sower sows, and describes the different soil conditions the seed lands upon. Is there a way
we could re-imagine this scene Jesus uses so as to see it in the context of our
religious experience today?
For instance, how might we interpret, in practical terms, the
different soils, different religious conditions, into which the seed falls? And
what identity might we give to the good seed that is sown? We could interpret
the seed as the grace-to-believe placed in one’s soul at baptism, and the
different soil conditions as the different religious environments that a newly
baptized encounters today.
So the soil is us, us Catholics, our Christian families, our
parishes, our diocese, all of us Catholics that make up the Church today, we
are that soil. Here it is necessary to recall Pope John Paul II’s teaching in his papal document on Catechesis - #19, where he points out that a newly baptized is given this grace, this
seed of faith, potentially. [the capacity
to believe placed within them by Baptism and the presence of the Holy Spirit] Now the recipient must grow and develop and become
an informed, committed follower of Jesus – the question then is how will the faith of this newly
baptized do.
So let’s look at the four soil conditions as four different
religious environments a newly baptized child faces.
First
condition is the Harden Path;
o For all
practical purposes, religious practice by those who surround the newly baptized
is dead – no one goes to church. In this case, baptism itself may not even
happen. If does it, there is no hope of it ever to growing. The seed of faith
lies dormant.
Second condition
is the Shallow Soil;
o There is some
religious practice to which the newly baptized is exposed – Christmas and
Easter Mass – maybe first communion, maybe even confirmation but little more.
Whatever little faith that one may have begun with, withers and fades away from lack
of support
Third
condition is the Choking Weeds;
o The newly
baptized may have the early start of family support but as that one moves on to
begin their own life, they find themselves surrounded by a world of strong and
conflicting values; where religious practice is viewed as worthless. They are surrounded
by constant negative experiences toward religion – no friends with whom to
share faith – immersed in a secular culture that has no room for believers.
Fourth
condition is the Good Soil;
o A newly baptized,
born into a family of strong, active faith, exposed to a healthy parish
experience, guided by mature religious instruction and advice – this seed of
faith comes alive and takes on a strong faith life of its own. It survives to
become a strong, practicing Catholic.
So what does this mean for the Church today and in the future? I came across a study showing a survey of active
church attendance among Catholics from 1965 to 2016.
So what will become of church in the years to come. In her book, Forming Intentional Disciples, Sherry
Weddell offered these statistics of Mass attendance in the U.S. as of 2007.
Using fours age grouping by generations she offers these stats;
After we Builders and Boomers pass on what will be the condition of the
Church in North America? This book is an excellent study of this question.
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". . . Finally, even adults are not safe from temptations to doubt or to abandon their faith, especially as a result of their unbelieving surroundings. This means that "catechesis" must often concern itself not only with nourishing and teaching the faith, but also with arousing it unceasingly with the help of grace, with opening the heart, with converting, and with preparing total adherence to Jesus Christ on the part of those who are still on the threshold of faith." CATECHESIS IN OUR TIME ...#19 " |
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