The Presence of Christ must be manifested with signs, symbols, art, music, liturgical action, sacrament, and all this is culture. The Truth, like the seed, needs soil in which to grow, and the soil is culture. The seed in the parable is scattered and some grows, some does not. But even the seed that reaches maturity produces different harvests, some thirty or sixty or a hundredfold. The same Truth, the same Gospel, the same Christ, when introduced into a specific cultural context produces a unique harvest, for different soils have different levels of fertility.
Climatic conditions vary from time to time and place to place.
The reception of the Word of God varies accordingly, not only as individuals hear the Gospel, understand the Truth, confront Christ, enter the Church, but as cultures do as well. No one plants without expecting a harvest. It is no accident that the Church presents Our Lord's prayer for unity to us more often than any other, for this is the ultimate goal of His Life and Mission, the fulfillment of the Gospel. He will hold us, all people of all races, nationalities, ethnic groups, political parties, religious sects and creeds, forever in His Infinite Loving Embrace. For those who have loved and served Him this altogetherness will be their joy, fulfillment, paradise.