Time To Sow The Seed
It’s a very strange thing, when you think about it… When we’re presented with something truly wonderful, something that will transform our lives into one of peace and happiness, something that will ensure a blissful future that can never be disrupted or lost, we don’t immediately rush to take advantage of the offer. We might be impressed momentarily, but for one reason or another, instead of changing our mundane and often miserable lives, we go back to our daily routine of distraction, too content with the poor offerings of a material world to switch to a better way. Not even when we’re being offered the very word of God himself.
It doesn’t seem to matter who is offering such an immensely beneficial present. So many ignored the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New. When God sent his own Son to show us the way, not even then did people listen, preferring instead to kill the Man who was offering them such an incredible gift. Mankind has certainly had a very dismal history when it comes to showing gratitude to God.
This gift of God’s own word is truly one worth having. For who is that Word, if not the Word that was in the beginning with God, that Word that is God, and without whom nothing was made, including us! We stand in amazement that every single human being would not immediately jump at the chance of eternal life and the perfect happiness that comes from it. And yet… jump we do not.
The seed has been sown by many people through the ages as we have shown. Prophets, apostles, saints and martyrs, holy popes and doctors of the Church—so many sowers of the seed that is the word of God. And because it is the word of God, it is in itself perfect. There’s nothing wrong with the seed. And yet that seed does not always produce good fruit. Some falls by the wayside where the devil tempts people away from it. Some falls on rocks, where our fallen human nature is too weak to allow it to grow beyond that momentary inspiration we experience. Then there’s the seed that falls among the thorns, where we’re choked by the riches and pleasures of this life—material illusions which make us neglect the most important things of all, our soul and our final judgment.
Today, we reflect upon the latest apostle of God, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a new sower whose turn it is to go out and sow his seed. We do so perhaps with great expectations that his seed will bear good fruit. Let’s remember though in this, a time of renewed hope certainly, the reality that if most of mankind would not listen even to the Son of God, we must expect no more from a mere mortal, no matter how saintly. It’s a sobering thought, not meant to detract from any optimistic dreams we may have about the good seed that will surely result from his apostolate. But it is a thought based on the reality that no man is better than his master, and that if they persecuted Christ our Saviour, they will surely persecute his followers. Let us therefore prepare ourselves to be true warriors of Christ, accepting whatever consequences our loyalty to the traditional faith may produce. Whether we are casualties or survivors in the battle, the important things are which side we’re fighting on and which side ultimately wins. We are on the side of God, and for this cause we fight, for this we offer our lives. The Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph in the end, and that’s all that really matters.