15th
Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary,
NOLA
Audio File
Jesus
sits in a boat. A crowd gathers on the shore of the lake. He preaches
to them in parables. He preaches the parable of the Sower of the
Seeds. We know it well. Seeds sown by the Sower fall on all sorts of
soil—rocky, thorny, shallow. Birds eat some of the seeds. The sun
withers the delicate roots of others. A few of the precious seeds are
planted firmly in rich soil and they germinate to produce healthy
plants, which, in turn, produce abundant fruit. The people in the
crowd must understand the parable. They are farmers. They understand
that not all the seeds they plant survive the planting, not all the
seeds that survive will sprout healthy plants, and not all those
plants will produce good fruit. What they probably don't know is that
as he's preaching, Jesus is discerning the hearts and minds of his
listeners. He sees a thorny mind and a barren heart. There a scorched
soul and there a shallow spirit. Two or three fertile souls are ready
to bear the burden of growing the seeds of his Word. Four or five are
prepared to do the work necessary to become fruitful souls. To these,
to those with hearts and minds poised to receive his Word, to these
he says, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
And
what is it that they ought to hear? To Isaiah, the Lord says, “Just
as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return
until they have watered the earth, so my word will not return to me
empty, but it will do my will, achieving the end for which I sent
it.” The Lord sends rain and snow, making the earth “fertile and
fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who
eats.” His Word is sent as seed to be sown. For those with ears to
hear: the Word is sown, the earth watered. Now, what sort of soil are
you? Are you shallow like the soil on a well-worn path? Thin, easily
blown this way and that? Shallow enough that the birds of every new
idea, new trend, new philosophy can come along and eat the seeds
you've been given? Perhaps you are rocky soil, hard in places, soft
in others. Difficult to till, impossible to tend. Lots of stones,
lots of gravel: Regrets, enemies, hatreds, worries. No where for the
tender roots of your seeds to sprout? Maybe your soil is choked by
thorns. The deadly brush and brambles of habitual sin,
cold-heartedness, or a steadfast refusal to find joy? Those thorns
will dry up the water of the Lord's grace and starve your seeds. Of
course, it is always possible, maybe even probable, that the soil you
present for sowing is rich, well-tilled, perfectly watered, and ready
for planting! You are ready for conversion, eager even to get down to
the risky business of nurturing the seed of God's Word, and verging
on impatience to be bear the good fruits of the Holy Spirit!
So,
what sort of soil are you? If you're like me, you are probably thorny
on Monday and Tuesday; rocky on Wednesday; shallow on Thursday and
Friday; Saturday is a toss up between too hot and too dry; and Sunday
is usually just fertile enough to receive a few seeds and have them
survive past midnight! Even when we have ears to hear the Word, we
don't always hear it all nor do we always listen to what we are
hearing. If we had been on that beach with the crowd, listening to
Jesus, he probably delved into our hearts and minds and found a
tangled mess of worries, joys, plans, memories, half-forgotten
lessons, and few unpleasant thoughts about our neighbors. Had he
lingered for more than a minute, he would have been treated to a
rapid-fire montage of resentments, broken promises, gloats,
successes, and a lot of static around thoughts of what comes next.
Had he stayed with us for a day or two, he would have watched as we
flipped from dedicated servants to selfish ingrates to sniveling
crybabies to triumphant conquerors, changing almost as fast and as
often as we change the stations on our 500 channel cable box. In
there somewhere, he would have seen us get a grip on our self-pity
and our sense of failure and strangle it with the more powerful
conviction that we are masters of our universe. And then, later that
same day, that megalomaniac would have to be strangled. By what?
Humility? Reality? Maybe a little of both? Watching us from the
distance of his boat, floating on the sea, our Lord would see us as
if we were riding a carousel, flashing by one moment a faithful
disciples, the next a desperate child, the next a self-sufficient
individual, the next a lonely heart and a cold mind. We are never
just one sort of soil.
If
it's true that we are never just one sort of soil, then how do we
properly receive the seed of God's Word? How do we make sure that we
are fertile, well-tilled, and perfectly watered when he comes around
to sow the seed? One way is quite simple: never be anything but
richly nourished, well-tilled, and perfectly watered. But we've
covered the improbability of that scenario. It's not impossible, of
course. We are finite creatures, prone to the ebb and flow of
circumstance, open to injury and insult, given to fits of
disobedience, bouts of lacking in trust. All these make being Always
Prepared difficult. . .but not impossible. The other option is to be
Always Prepared to be Made Ready; that is, since being always
prepared seems improbable, always be open to being given everything
you need to get ready. At the very least, this means watching for any
opportunity to turn yourself around to face God, to repent. Waiting
for every chance to forgive and be forgiven, to bless and be blessed,
to show mercy, gratitude, trust. It means being eager to step up in
the face of gross injustice; to defend the truth of the Good News; to
give witness to the goodness that the Lord has shown you; to suffer
for another, to love sacrificially. It means remembering, calling to
heart and mind, that you are a creature loved by Love Himself,
created and re-created to live perfectly in His presence forever. And
when you remember this fundamental truth of the faith, when you
recall it, you live right then as if you are with Him—face-to-face—at
the moment, right that second. Then, you will always be prepared to
be made ready to receive the seed of His Word.
Paul
teaches the Romans that “creation awaits with eager expectation the
revelation of the children of God.” Why? “. . .in hope that
creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and
share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Our glorious
freedom is the freedom from sin's constraint, freedom from sin's
limitations. We are never freer, more at liberty than when we are
prepared to be made ready to receive God's Word. This is edge of our
cooperation with His grace: we do all we can do with His help to be
the best possible sort of soil and then we go one step more. We
surrender. Just give up. Give up worry, anxiety, control, the need to
achieve, and then we are ready. In full surrender to the working of
His grace, we are best prepared to bear the best fruits. Sixty,
seventy, one-hundred-fold. We are ready.
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