Seeds sown and grown

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

from today’s Gospel (Tuesday of the 30^th week in Ordinary Time):

This is what the Kingdom of God is like: The tiny mustard seed is planted and grows into a large bush and birds come to dwell in its branches. (Luke 13:19) (my paraphrase)

That tiny seed was once planted and we were conceived, and again and again in our lives, seeds were planted and some of them have grown to be great and wonderful things. Take, for example, the “seed” of Baptism. Without that you wouldn’t be where you are and reading these words. And I wouldn’t be writing them as well. In addition to the seed of Baptism, seeds of faith were sown in us, and look where that faith has led us, while God Father, Son and Spirit have poured upon us water and nourishment and have witnessed its growth, all the while tending to it and nurturing it, preserving it from attacks of the enemy, forgiving it when it has strayed—always, always forgiving it, never giving up on it, never turning His back on us, leading us, guiding us, helping us to bear fruit in little ways as well as big ways perhaps, giving us the graces we have needed to give witness to the Christ within us, this Christ Who existed before the beginning of time until He became flesh and lived among us in time and in space while He taught, worked wonders, suffered, died and rose from the dead, and who prayed that we might see the glory He had before the foundation of the world; all this grown from that one tiny seed which existed in time at the beginning of our existence.

That is what the Kingdom of God is like.

To be certain, the enemy (I refuse to capitalize it) has sown weeds among the seeds and the weeds have choked off some of the nourishment we were meant to have, and the weeds continue to grow in you and in me along with the growth of the Kingdom of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit sometimes uproot the weeds when we ask, but leave others for reasons that we cannot begin to understand at this time in our lives, but the Son has promised us that the time will come when the weeds and the wheat within us will be separated and the weeds will ultimately be destroyed.

In our lives as well, we sow seeds—little seeds, something as small as a smile given to a sad man or woman—and never forget how St. Mother Theresa spoke so often about the power of a single smile—do you practice yours regularly? And perhaps the words we have spoken or written or sung have sown seeds in others, others we know nothing about but whom we will meet and celebrate with in the Kingdom of Heaven. And never forget that each and every day, each and every hour, perhaps, you continue to have the opportunity to sow seeds that may grow up to be wonderful things. (And remember especially all those who have sown seeds in us.) And of course, we must be careful not to do the enemy’s work and sow weeds in others, and we must lament the times we have done things like that (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.) I especially like the words of the Psalm 19:13b “from hidden faults acquit me” because they remind me that I may have unwittingly sown weeds instead of seeds.

Please pardon the run-on sentences, but this has been the seed the Spirit has given me this day. May God in His great love bring it to completion. Amen.

God bless you!