We live in a society steeped in egalitarian principles. To a greater or lesser degree, we are influenced by a profound tendency to reject, or at least resent, the least authority or superiority in others.1 However, such a stance opposes evangelical doctrine, as we can see in this Sunday’s parable.

The symbolic narrative begins with the figure of the sower, without whose action neither the seed could germinate nor the fertile land produce fruit. Christian tradition recognizes in him the image of Christ, sowing His grace and His word in souls. However, this allegory also evokes all those invested with a mission of authority, teaching, or example.

In opposition to egalitarian ideologies, the true superior does not exist to oppress subordinates, but to help them, protect them, spur them on in the practice of good, and guide them to perfection. Thus God ordained the principles of hierarchy and mediation in the universe: “The King and Lord of Heaven instituted this law from all eternity: that the gifts of His Providence should reach the lower realities through intermediaries.”2

Next, the Divine Master presents four radically unequal terrains in terms of fertility: the edge of the road symbolizes hardened hearts; the stony ground, the superficial and inconstant; the thorny soil, those choked by unruly passions; and, finally, the good soil evokes souls docile to divine action.

Only the seeds sown in the fertile soil produced fruit, and each in a different degree: some seeds yielded a hundredfold; others, sixty; still others, thirty.

This is further proof of the wrongness of egalitarianism: since a cause cannot produce effects beyond its own measure, equalizing the land would require degrading the best and reducing it to unproductive conditions, and standardizing the seeds would amount to diminishing the fertility of the most fruitful ones. Similarly, among men there are legitimate differences in gifts, abilities, and influences. Each one can, in varying degrees, receive from others and exert upon them a beneficial influence. Absolute uniformity does not exist; an egalitarian civilization would impoverish the harmony of creation and only build ruins.

One might object: but is there not injustice in inequality? It is the Angelic Doctor who answers:

“It was fitting that the diversity of things should have been instituted with a certain order, so that some might be better than others. […] In order that the divine likeness of created things might be more perfect, it was necessary that some should be constituted better than others, and that some should act upon others, leading them to perfection.”3

All creation, therefore, is arranged in different degrees, and so too should social organization be: a harmonious hierarchy, established upon the foundations of charity.

Finally, the diversity of the fruits yielded invites us to a serious examination of conscience: what kind of seed are we in the fulfilment of our duties of state and those of piety? Do we produce works of a hundredfold, or only of sixty or thirty? Do we seek to offer God the best, according to our concrete possibilities? Or are we content with mediocre works, dedicating to the Creator only part of our love and effort?

Let us ask Our Lord, the Divine Sower, to transform our hearts into fertile, humble, pure soil, admiring the qualities of others. In this way, we will produce generous fruits, a hundredfold. 

Notes:

1 Cf. CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Revo­lução e Contra-Revolução. São Paulo: Arautos do Evangelho, 2024, p.83-107.

2 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Principium Rigans montes, prooemium.

3 Idem. Compendium of Theology, c.73.