Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are. This very true statement delves more deeply into our emotions and attitudes that we might wish to admit. Parents develop their children’s attitudes before the marriage even took place. When one comes to realize the importance of the soil of life then one will take seriously which friends I unite with and the friends I want my children to have. So let us study the four soils that our Blessed Lord presents and what makes these soils helpful or dangerous.
In this Sunday’s gospel our Lord tells the parable of the Sower and the seed. As the good Lord sows His Word (His Seed) it falls upon four soils. They are 1) the soil of the pathway; 2) the soil of stone; 3) the soil with tares and 4) the healthy soil. As you may know the soils are explained by the Lord which makes this parable unique and important for us.
Note that three quarters of the soils produce nothing while one soil produces a hundred, sixty or thirty fold. Salvation does not come to everyone and the three soils indicate why so few are saved. Many have been called by hearing the word of God but the souls that hear and never meditate simply allow the demonic to invade and crush the word of God with the word of the world. Many there are in life who believe that the wisdom of the world is more advantageous than the wisdom that causes us to reject the world. Men and women today will live together without a sacramental marriage believing the false wisdom of the world which repeats the phrase: “Everyone is doing it.” So what…God tells us that purity will be blessed with fidelity. If you want a faithful marriage you must practice the true wisdom of God. Many marriages are in sad shape because these souls did it their way and now fail to make reparation for their sin. This soil produces no fruit except death and hatred.
From the soil of the world’s pathway we come upon the souls of those stubborn stoney hearts. These souls hears the word of God but fail to pray, fail to care about the needs of their neighbor. They are the proud that isolate themselves like rocks and they destroy all others with their criticisms and their proud assessments of their fellow human being. The Word of God sounds great to these and they imagine that they are in the camp of the Lord but they follow their own stubborn ways and produce no fruit, no holiness. Many there are that fall into this camp of pride and fail to battle their hardness of heart through a serious study of humility.
In the third case the soil is producing thorns and thistles. When the word of God comes to these their care for the pleasures of life is too strong and hence the word of God is choked out of existence because of their attachment to the body and the entertainment that they seek. All of these soils are shallow in their vision of life and its meaning. They settle for the surface and fall into the routine of life without any thought of their eternal end.
Finally, the fourth soil presents the Lord with a dark and fertile soil which will produce the fruit of holiness. These reject the world, the flesh and the devil. These attach themselves to the word of God and structure a prayer life that is ordered and progressive. They understand the dictate: Non progredi regredi est (Not to go forward is to go backward). They possess a sense of the holy and they make it a part of their daily life to feed their soul with love of Our Lord, love of our Lady and a devotion to the saints. These will take seriously the time of Lent and prepare well to advance in the Spirit of Christ. Their desire is to daily save as many souls as they can. These souls populate heaven with the fruit of their sacrificial love.
Such a simple parable but so intense with the meaning of life. If only we could take the time to meditate upon these soils and examine our consciences and recognize where our souls are. We may have a combination of these soils in our attitude. This would indicate that we need more frequent confession. We need the grace of the confessional to conquer the devil, our flesh and our worldliness. There are two more weeks until we begin Lent so it is wise to start now and prepare a plan beginning with your prayer life moving from that to your spiritual reading that can feed your prayer and finally the fasting and physical denials that can help purchase the needed grace which will purify the soil in our hearts.
May our Lord and our Lady guide your reflection and lead you to that love of meditation that powers the will to cleanse the impurity from our souls and lead us to a rich soil to receive the eternal word of God’s love for each of us. God love you.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Voigt
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