Tina Moore, vice principal and middle school religion teacher at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School in Charleston, South Carolina, recently contributed an article on the parable of The Sower from Matthew 13 to the Catholic school education blog NCEA Talk. 

Jesus, depicting a sower scattering seeds on a number of types of soil – thorny, fertile and rocky – explained in the parable how the Word of God will be received, depending on the state of heart a person who hears the word is experiencing. 

“This parable could be useful in considering the environments in our Catholic schools,” Moore wrote. 

Moore explained that the seeds snatched up by birds signify the moments in life when we do not listen or try to understand the word of God, while the rocky ground is when we understand but fail to own an idea in our hearts, whereas the thorny ground is when we hear and believe but do not act on what we believe to be true 

“The rich soil, however, is a setting where authentic sharing of ideas is an intentional part of the culture – and precisely the kind of environment that learners, both student and adult, need as our new school year approaches,” Moore wrote. “Fertile soil lies in forming a school culture to build relationship, community with others (adult and young person) in order to build up the person, our Church and the world.”