Feria VI after Sexagesima: What Soil Are We?
MASS Exsúrge, quare obdórmis
LESSON 2 Corinthians 11: 19-33; 12: 1-9
GOSPEL St Luke 8: 4-15
HOMILIST Mt Revd Jerome Lloyd OSJV
Beloved in Christ,
Holy Church gives us again the Parable of the Sower. She repeats it because we have not yet absorbed it. The seed has not changed. The Sower has not changed. The only variable is the soil.
And the soil is the heart.
Our Lord tells us plainly: the seed is the Word of God. It is living. It is perfect. It is not defective. If it fails to bear fruit, the fault is not in the Sower and not in the seed — but in the ground that receives it.
First, the wayside. The Word is heard, but it does not penetrate. It remains on the surface. The devil removes it before it can take root. This is the heart that listens without attention, that hears without guarding.
This is the great danger of our age. We are surrounded by words. Sermons, articles, commentary, religious media — yet the interior life grows thin. The Word cannot enter where there is no silence. It cannot take root where there is constant distraction. The wayside is not hostility; it is superficiality.
Then the rocky ground. The Word is received with joy. There is warmth, enthusiasm, even sincerity. But there is no depth. When trial arises — and trial always arises — the plant withers.
This is the religion of impulse. A moment of fervour. A stirring resolution. But no discipline. No mortification. No structured prayer. No perseverance. Our age loves beginnings. It does not love endurance. And so faith flourishes briefly and collapses quickly.
Then the thorny soil. The Word grows, but it is choked by “cares, riches, and pleasures of life.” These are not necessarily crimes; they are distractions elevated into priorities. The heart becomes divided.
This may be the most subtle danger. One can profess Christ while giving the greater part of attention to ambition, comfort, reputation, entertainment, and anxiety. The Word does not die dramatically. It suffocates slowly.
Finally, the good ground: those who hear the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.
Patience is the measure.
Not excitement.
Not visibility.
Not influence.
Patience.
The Word must be guarded. It must be pondered. It must be obeyed. It must survive contradiction. It must endure dryness. It must withstand trial.
Sexagesima is the Church’s warning before Lent begins. If the soil is not prepared, Lenten practices will be external only. Fasting without interior conversion becomes routine. Prayer without recollection becomes noise. Almsgiving without detachment becomes display.
The Sower continues to sow. That is mercy. But the field must be cultivated.
Stones must be removed — the hardness of pride, the resistance to correction.
Thorns must be uprooted — the anxieties and ambitions that crowd out God.
The surface must be broken — distraction must yield to silence.
The question for this feria is not whether we admire the parable. It is whether we recognise ourselves in it.
What soil are we?
For the Word will be sown again. And fruit is not accidental. It is the result of a heart that hears, keeps, and perseveres.
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
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