The parable of the Sower and the soil is perhaps the best known of all Jesus' parables. There are different types of soils in each of us. Part of us is the trodden footpath, hard and dusty where nothing can grow and where the wind blows away the seed.

So, what does it take to recover that hard, dusty ground? How can we enrich this soil? How can we dig out those stones of intolerance and hate or pull out the thorns of wealth, power and prestige?

Part of us may be the rocky soil where we refuse to let others into our sphere because they have different ideas or look unusual.

We have many thorns and weeds in our soil that choke out the seed. Our culture's noise, speed, and covetousness make it very difficult to find silence or time or nurture the soil, weed out, and prepare the soil for the good seed, the Good News.

We like to think that everyone has some rich soil. Yet, we have to till it and fertilise it. We need to reclaim it as rich earth that will accept everything silently and transform it. The earth is receptive to sun and rain alike and capable of producing grains, some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold.