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 . . .” (Lk 8:4-15)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092323.cfm
The little details often get overlooked, but in the case of the parable of the sower the little details mean a lot. Part of the key to evangelization is that we can’t evangelize inside the four walls of the church. Some of us are content with getting stained-glass suntans, but we have to go outside the church building if we’re going to sow the word. Even if, like the sower in the parable, we throw the seed in the middle of the street or among the weeds. It is not our careful preparing of the soil, but rather God who brings the miraculous harvest. Maybe it’s just that simple . . . “a sower went out to sow.” Padre Pio (1887-1968) always gave advice: "Pray, hope, and don't worry."
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, September 23
