A Reflection for the Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the church

Find today’s readings here. 

Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?

I recently helped my 7-year-old study for a religion test for school. His preparation included reviewing the parable of the sower in today’s Gospel. “Which one are we supposed to be?” I asked about the four types of ground upon which the seeds fall. He confidently responded we are meant to be the good soil.

I was struck by the fact that this parable, deemed simple enough to teach second graders today, seemed to confound the disciples. (If my son had not understood, I hope I would have the wherewithal not to yell “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?!”) I remain grateful for the years of biblical scholarship that we have to guide us now in understanding not only this parable but also the many complicated and confusing passages in the Bible.

Although the Word of God may not always find fertile ground, we can do our part to nurture it.

I often find myself thinking with awe about the fact that Jesus’ early followers had the benefit of seeing him and hearing from him directly. But then I also think of how confusing that must have been in some ways. How frightening not to know what to make of the stories and events of this time. There were no New Testament scholars to offer interpretations, and no certainty about where the life of Jesus would lead, and the early followers’  questions were often met with frustration. 

But as the disciples grew in understanding of this parable and others, as they figured out what they believed and why, I imagine they took some comfort in the message that, although the Word of God may not always find fertile ground, we can do our part to nurture it. They knew eventually, what we know now, too, that through our attention to God’s message in our life, through our willingness to trust and follow Mercy where it leads, we may “bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.

Kerry Weber joined the staff of America in October 2009. Her writing and multimedia work have since earned several awards from the Catholic Press Association, and in 2013 she reported from Rwanda as a recipient of Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship. Kerry is the author of Mercy in the City: How to Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty, Visit the Imprisoned, and Keep Your Day Job (Loyola Press) and Keeping the Faith: Prayers for College Students (Twenty-Third Publications). A graduate of Providence College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she has previously worked as an editor for Catholic Digest, a local reporter, a diocesan television producer, and as a special-education teacher on the Navajo reservation in Arizona.