How Deep is Your Love?
(Is.55:10-11; Rom.8:18-23; Mt.13:1-23)
Most people seem to like the romantic Bee Gees ballad ‘How Deep Is Your Love?’ (1977).
It’s the story of a man who has fallen in love, and wants to know if his beloved loves him equally in return. This song isn’t just about romance, though. It’s about depth, trust, and whether love can survive the challenges of ordinary life.
In today’s Gospel that question, ‘How deep is your love?’ is exactly what Jesus is asking us in his Parable of the Sower. This is the story of a farmer who scatters his seeds everywhere, and it lands on pathways, on rocky ground, among thorns, and on rich, fertile soil.
This parable isn’t really about seeds and soil, however. It’s about how deeply God’s love can penetrate the soil of our hearts.
One of the Early Church Fathers, St John Chrysostom, was struck by the Sower’s generosity in scattering his seed so lavishly, even on hopeless ground. Why is he so lavish? It’s because that’s how God loves. God’s love has no limits.
This seed, Jesus explains, is the Word of God, and behind his every word is God’s loving heart. So, the question is not whether God’s love is deep enough; it’s whether our hearts are deep enough to receive it.
Consider the first soil, the pathway, where the seed simply sits until the birds steal it. This path represents the cynical or superficial hearts who hear God’s Word but either don’t understand or just don’t care, for they are shut tight.
How deep then is your love, if you won’t even let God’s Word in?
Then there’s the rocky ground where the seed starts sprouting. But there’s no depth to receive any roots, and when the sun arrives the plant withers and dies.
St Augustine warned of this kind of faith. He called it a love that’s loud but shallow, eager in good times but absent in suffering.
How many of us love God when life is sweet but question him when life turns bitter? How deep is your love when the cross appears?
The third soil is perhaps most like our world today: the thorns. The seed grows, but it’s choked by what Jesus calls ‘the worries of the world and the lure of riches.’ Pope Francis often spoke of the noise of modern life and the endless anxiety about money and success which slowly suffocate the life of God in us.
These thorns don’t actually attack the seed; they simply crowd it out. And so our prayer life starts shrinking, our generosity dries up, and our love grows cold.
How deep is your love when you allow the world to distract you like this?
And finally, there’s the rich soil, where the seed takes root, grows, and bears loads of fruit. This is the heart that has been well-ploughed and prepared. It’s the heart that has made space for God.
Now, notice the difference between all these soils. The difference isn’t the seed, for it’s always the same. God’s love never changes, regardless of where it falls.
The difference is the depth of the ground that receives it.
St Teresa of Ávila often said that the soul is like a garden and we are the gardeners. We cannot make the seed grow, for only God can do that. But we can prepare the soil. We can pull up the thorns. We can break up the rocks. We can fence off the path so that the birds cannot steal what God has planted.
So how do we deepen the soil of our hearts? Here are three ways:
Firstly, silence. Noise hardens the pathway, so spend ten minutes each day sitting quietly with our Lord. Pray, and read the Gospel slowly. Let it sink in.
Secondly, perseverance. Rocky soils fail because they have no room for roots. Stay faithful to prayer when you don’t feel like praying. Come to Mass even when it’s inconvenient. Allow God’s love to seep in and nourish your heart.
And thirdly, pruning. Find the thorns and cut them back. This week, name the worries, the attachments, and the distractions that choke your spiritual life. Ask Jesus to remove them.
Every single day, the Sower scatters seed in our lives through scripture, the Holy Spirit, and the grace of the sacraments. The seed is perfect, the Sower is generous, but the question is always the depth of our hearts.
So, today, Jesus is asking you: How deep is your love?
Remember the words from that iconic song: ‘I believe in you. You know the door to my very soul, you’re the light in my deepest, darkest hour, you’re my saviour when I fall…’
Ask Jesus to help your heart grow strong and fruitful.