The Gospel of The feast of St. Pius of Pietracina is taken from Luke 8th, chapter 4 through the 15th verse. When a large crowd gathered with people from one town after another journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture.

Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold. After saying this, he called out, whoever has ears to hear, ought to hear. Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. He answered, knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to the rest they are made known through parables, so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.

This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those on the path are the ones who have heard. But the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart that they may not believe and be saved. Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root. They believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.

As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard. But as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit. But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart and bear fruit through perseverance. Why did Jesus use parables? Because they were ways in which he could describe the kingdom that had not yet come. The kingdom is because God lives in human beings.

And he had not lived in human beings as he does now until Pentecost. So he spoke in parables so that his disciples, when they understood fully the wisdom that was in his message, would go back to these parables and they would make sense. But the thing he was worried about, and the scribes and Pharisees were a perfect example. They were talking about a kingdom that they created. And it was a kingdom where when truth came into that kingdom, it was like it couldn’t touch people’s hearts. The law doesn’t change hearts.

The law controls behavior. And human beings will not be consistent by using their will to create the kingdom. It is a gift. It is a power that resides within the One who made us. Closing Prayer Father, you have created in us a place, a rich soil, our heart. Fill us with your truth.

Fill us with your presence. Help us to be healers and speakers and livers of the truth that you have called us to proclaim. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.