Mt 13:18-23 Seeds That Grows

Mt 13:18-23  Seeds That Grows

(Click here for readings)

Jesus said to his disciples:  “Hear the parable of the sower…The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

We all look for excitement while we all appreciate what’s common.  What’s common is what is very stable.  For example, in order for a seed to grow it must fall on rich soil; take root; and persevere in times of trial. 

The Lord knows human nature as well as he knows plants.  Without stability; without roots; without Christ, we have little to no chance of surviving like humans and living like saints. 

Yesterday, I saw a very disturbing video of a nine-year old boy in a daycare center that viciously punched and kicked other children while they were waiting for a parent or guardian to pick them up.  He attacked children as little as nine-months old!  He knew what he was doing.  He actually waited for the day care assistant to turn her back before he ruthlessly attacked the children.  At one moment, he positioned a little girl, turned his head to make sure the assistant wasn’t looking, and kicked the little girl in the back.  When the assistant turned to see what had happened, he cleverly went over to the baby and picked her up, giving the appearance that he was consoling her.

Let me guess:  He has “mental health” issues, right?  He needs to be medicated.  Health officials should have informed the daycare center that he was capable of doing great harm to others.  They should be held liable for not predicting this type of behavior.  Or maybe the answer (or solution) is that he was born evil.  Some people get more of original sin than others.  Original sin affects the genetics of a person, right?  WRONG!

What’s wrong with our kids today?  What’s changed, other than time?  Have their bodies evolved?  Do they no longer need two arms but three?  Do they see from their ears and hear from their eyes?  Are they no longer born with an umbilical cord, like the first humans?  Kids do not evolve, they grow.  There is a difference.

What’s changed is the following:  they no longer have any type of roots; that is, they have little to no stability; little to no responsibility; little to no morality.  Man has not evolved with time, but marriage and family have, and they have left everyone behind, especially their children, our future.

Far too many of us will do whatever it takes to be happy, even at the expense of those who depend on us.  We will do whatever makes us happy but not whatever it takes for our children to be happy.  Sometimes the two coincide.  Many times they don’t.   

Evolution can be a great thing.  It can also be a lousy thing.  Supposedly we have become stronger over time, but so have viruses and bacteria.  Whatever gains we made with our minds, we’ve definitely lost with our hearts.  We have evolved into thinking that a child born out of wedlock is worse than a child being born.  Kids that know this think about this and grow up with this.  They value their comfort level much more than their sense of honor, duty and responsibility.

Human nature has not changed with time.  We still need to eat.  We still need to sleep.  We still need to be taught order, discipline, stability, responsibility and morality.  We still need someone to take care of us when we are vulnerable and someone to love us always.  If we take a beautiful tree that has been firmly planted in the ground and uproot it to move it, watch out:  chances are it will die. 

That’s what’s happening to our kids.  They don’t have a family that will love them so they find a family in a gang, prison or cult.  They have no one to spend hours with so they text, tweet, chat, and Facebook.  They don’t have a sibling as a friend so they find a sibling in a friend.  They don’t have a mother or a father to love them so they find a boyfriend or a girlfriend that will.  They don’t have someone that will teach them, discipline them, help them, tough-love them and be honest with them, so they find a mother or a father in a coach, teacher, social worker, priest or neighbor. 

But what eventually ends up happening is that they find out just how inhumane they really are.   They are not human.  They are like an artificial plant; no leaves, no roots, no soil.  And we are content with it, as long as we can get by with it.

Although the world around us may evolve over time, plants still need what they have always needed since the dawn of time. 

Although marriage and family may evolve in name and over time, children still need what they have always needed since the dawn of man. 

The lack of it will be ever more noticeable (and shocking) over time.