Things to talk about:

• What does a plant need to grow? What do you need to grow in faith?
• Have you ever planted seeds? What happened?
• Retell this parable in your words. Take turns and be creative.
• What type of soil do you think your faith is growing in? Do you need to change it? If so, how might you? 

Things to do:

• Visit a Local Pilgrimage Site or Historic Church to discover our roots of the Catholic Churches in our Archdiocese of Atlanta: Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception or the Cathedral of Christ the King
• When our hearts are like soft, rich soil, God’s Word can take root and grow. It makes our hearts feel better and also wants us to heal the hearts of others too. Review the Corporal Works of Mercy and see in what ways you can act. Ideas include giving drink to the thirsty by bringing cold water to someone in your neighborhood doing yard work, the mail carrier, trash collectors… visiting the sick by making cards or art work that can be brought to a nursing home or children’s hospital.
• The sanctuary lamp is a red light near the tabernacle. It signifies the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, which is reserved in the tabernacle. Find the sanctuary lamp in your church.

Closing Prayer

Pray this Sunday’s Psalm, Psalm 65:10-14.

You have visited the land and watered it; greatly have you enriched it. God’s watercourses are filled; you have prepared the grain.
Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows,
breaking up its clods, Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield. You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest; The untilled meadows overflow with it, and rejoicing clothes the hills.
The fields are garmented with flocks and the valleys blanketed with grain. They shout and sing for joy.

Name anyone who needs prayer, reply, “Lord, hear our prayers.”  Close with the Sign of the Cross.     

Catholic Insight

This Gospel marks the beginning of the third long discourse given by Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. Over the next few weeks, the Gospel readings will consist of the entire 13^th Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, a lengthy teaching about the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus will offer several parables to illustrate what he means by the kingdom of heaven. He begins with the parable of the sower, seeds grow best in good soil. Seeds sown on rocky ground, and among other plants will not grow. The surprise in the parable is the enormous yield of the seed that is sown on good soil.

Jesus suggests that he uses parables to teach because the meanings of parables are not obvious. Those who try to understand will be rewarded by the discovery of the message and will bear fruit.

Jesus then interprets the parable of the sower to his disciples. The different types of soil in which the seeds are sown are metaphors for how each individual hears the teaching about the kingdom of heaven. Some will be distracted and swayed away from the kingdom of heaven. Some will receive it for a time but will lose it when faced with challenges. Some will hear the word but will then permit other cares to choke it out. Yet some will receive it well, and the seed will produce abundant fruit.

Families and our parish community, have the responsibility for “preparing the soil” so that the seeds of God’s Word can grow strong. There are many ways to do this—family traditions that celebrate faith, prayer and reading of Scripture, and learning and growing in our Catholic faith.