The Lord's parable of the sower going out to sow seed is interesting. The parable is clear, yet its application may not be as clear as we may think. Instead of only describing categories of people in their response to the Word of God, it is perhaps even more accurate to describe the varying responses to the Word of God in each one of us.
In the Acts of St Genesius we are told that the actor Genesius inveigled his way into the Christian community and her catechetical programme. There he was instructed in the teaching of Christ, we would say the Word of God was poured over him. He was there only to do research - was he theatre's first "method actor"? And if we dare put him in the parable we might be tempted to think he was the path where the seed fell and had no hope to germinate.
Yet we see later that that is not so. A seed was indeed planted and it was beginning to grow and it would eventually produce a great harvest of faith and sanctity as we see as he lays down his life for Christ. Even Genesius was, no doubt, surprised at that as he struggled with faith, trying to resist it.
The lesson is clear: the Word of God has a way of finding its way into the human heart, and so we should never despair of those who struggle with faith or even reject it. Like St Monica and so many other Saints, we keep the flame of hope alive, we pray and we open our hearts to God's initiative so to help Him bring others to Himself. It is probably because of this that St Genesius is honoured as one of the patrons of conversion.
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