VATICAN CITY (CNS) - God proposes -- not imposes -- his Gospel and offer of salvation, putting the responsibility of being open to and moved by his message on the listener, Pope Francis said.
[caption id="attachment_24257" align="alignright" width="250"] A woman religious is seen with TV crew at St. Paul Church in Luanda, Angola, in this 2009 file photo. (CNS photo/Ciro Fusco, EPA) See POPE-ANGELUS-EVANGELIZATION-SOWER July 17, 2017.[/caption]
Jesus doesn't draw people to him by conquering them, but by giving himself, like a sower, spreading "with patience and generosity his word, which isn't a cage or a trap, but a seed that can bear fruit" if people welcome it, the pope said before praying the Angelus July 16.
Speaking to people gathered in St. Peter's Square, the pope reflected on the Sunday reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew, in which Jesus speaks to the crowds about the parable of the sower.
The parable, the pope said, speaks more about the soil than the sower because the quality of the terrain is critical for whether a seed will eventually bear fruit.
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