Speaking in Parables

By Fr. Paul deLadurantaye
HERALD Columnist
(From the Issue of 7/11/02)

"Why do you speak to them in parables?" was the question posed by the disciples to Our Lord in this week’s Gospel. We might well ask the same question; after all, wouldn’t it be a lot easier for us if God had spoken plainly? Wouldn’t we have greater insights into His plan and a better understanding of what He wants us to do with our lives if God had just said, "This is what I want," or, "This is what I mean"? Why parables?

Parables are stories with a point. They are meant to capture peoples’ attention and get them thinking about what the parable might mean, how they might see themselves reflected in it. Parables are very vivid ways by which someone can come to discover a truth, meditate upon it and allow it to remain fixed in the mind and memory.

This is exactly the case with the parable of the sower and the seed in our Gospel passage this week. Jesus really addresses the parable to two different audiences (and we find ourselves a part of each). The first audience is the more prominent one: those who hear the Word of God. Looking at the parable from this perspective, we can see Jesus saying to His listeners that there are different ways of accepting the Word of God, and the fruitfulness of that Word will depend upon how prepared, how ready, how open is the heart to which it is directed. We can be very resistant to Christ’s Word, for we prefer to live by our own word — that is, our own way of seeing the world, of deciding for ourselves what is true. Our word is frequently at odds with the Word of God.

The first danger Jesus warns of concerns those who live so much in "the fast lane" that they fail to develop an abiding understanding or assimilation of the Word. Superficiality in our lives or any disordered priority can keep us from taking the Word of God seriously. When we neglect to live by faith, the Evil One (Satan) can steal what the Lord has begun to plant in our hearts. On the other hand, when we listen attentively to the Word of God and live configured to it, we move off our own private paths and onto the Way who is Jesus.

Second, Jesus warns that God’s Word can wither and dry up in those who succumb to despair and hopelessness when faced with trial or persecution. The soil of such people’s hearts is not deep; thus, we can be enthusiastic about our faith at first, but when its demands become known, we can give up. Doubts can arise; we may find ourselves questioning the Faith handed on to us by the Church; and sadly, we know that there are those who fall away. Each of us must ask ourselves, "How deep, then, is the soil of my heart? Will God’s Word be able to take root and last in my life?"

Finally, Jesus warns us about misplaced love. He speaks about "worldly anxiety and the lure of riches." We might see in these temptations all the cares of the world that assume a priority over the Lord and His Word to us. It is, unfortunately, all too easy for us to become so distracted by the demands of daily life that we simply give God no room to effect a transformation of our lives. We may not set ourselves actively in opposition to God, but it may be that we let other cares, concerns and interests shoulder Him aside.

If, at times, we see ourselves within these different categories of those who hear the Word, we also must see ourselves as belonging to the second audience to whom Jesus is speaking — that is, those who preach the Word. The Lord reminds His listeners that there is seed which falls on "rich soil," that some seed does bear much fruit. Every one of us is, in a certain way, a sower — a preacher — of God’s Word, whether by what we say or by what we do. It is easy to become discouraged and to think that our efforts at spreading the Faith do not amount to much, but if we are able, in word and action, to give committed, single-hearted witness to Jesus Christ, then the Word of God which we sow will indeed become the wheat that gives rise — for ourselves and for others — to the Bread of Life.

Fr. deLadurantaye is director of the Office of Sacred Liturgy, secretary for diocesan religious education and in residence at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington.

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