Seeds Of Faith | September 19, 2015

September 19, 2015

Grandma died 2 years ago today. I miss her so much, but quite honestly I feel closer to her than ever. You see she was one of the most effective sowers in my life. Her life was such a constant and steady stream of faith that she was abundantly casting out seeds non-stop and the chances of one of those seeds taking hold and flourishing were very high. While she would want her life to be one of many fruits, she was unaware of just how strong her impact was on her family most especially her grandchildren. Today’s gospel is about a sower and his seeds. He scattered the seeds profusely and they landed every which way. Each had its own potential to thrive and each seed had its own environment in which to grow. Every seed grew according to its surroundings and its care. Some did not make it, some did make it to a certain point and stopped growing, and some made it and bloomed. This is one of the easy parables to understand isn’t it? Yet, if we unpack it we can find many more layers of wisdom.

Once the seeds are sown others must come in to take care of the soil, manage the weeds, and transplant the ones that were thrown into the cracks. Have you ever seen a flower growing out of a sidewalk? It’s one of my favorite things because that strong willed flower beat the odds and grew anyway. Raise your hand if you know any people like that? God sows seeds literally everywhere and grace whispers instructions as to how to care for those seeds in each one of our ears. Uh oh, that means that we need to listen. Listen and you will hear the care-giving tips like those little cards that come with a plant that you buy at the store: water once a week, keep in direct sunlight, fertilize every two weeks, move to a bigger pot, use a specific kind of soil, etc. The Holy Spirit puts these instructions on our hearts from which to draw when we need. The trick is to know it and to believe it. That comes through prayer. The instructions come from scripture and the living Word, which is Christ. We receive that every week at mass in the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist.

I know nothing about how to grow real plants, however, recently I transplanted a succulent from a small pot into a bigger pot and lo and behold it started to grow!! I realize that any idiot can grow succulents, but I was pretty darn proud of myself. Of course, I am always trying to find a morsel of grace in life’s ordinary moments, and I realized that sometimes we need to transplant the seeds or the struggling plant in order for it to grow. The soil may have become compromised. The pot may have become too small. Too much water is not good. The roots need room to breathe. The same is true for our souls. Sometimes we need to transplant them into a better environment. Today’s gospel gives us the opportunity to study the seeds that have been planted into our care and to reassess exactly how the Holy Spirit wants us to tend to those seeds. Does the soul need more direct SON-light? Does it need more or less water (sometimes we can saturate a seed with too much care)? Are weeds creeping into the environment? Does the soil need to be tilled or fertilized? Does the plant need to be uprooted and moved into another place? Let’s not forget that God is the sower and he has called us to care for the seeds that he has lavishly scattered to all the ends of the earth. Pray about the seeds in your care and remember who cares and tends to your soul as well.

Lastly, in honor of my grandma who tended to my soul as the first grandchild seed entrusted to her care, I hope that she can look on my budding soul, however small, and say, it is well. This is a picture of her oldest granddaughter and her youngest granddaughter. Grandma was there the day both of us were born and we sat on either side of her as she died. Megan is my Goddaughter. Seeds.

Reading 1 1 TM 6:13-16

Beloved:
I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,
and before Christ Jesus,
who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate
for the noble confession,
to keep the commandment without stain or reproach
until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ
that the blessed and only ruler
will make manifest at the proper time,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light,
and whom no human being has seen or can see.
To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm PS 100:1B-2, 3, 4, 5

R. (2) Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Sing joyfully to the LORD all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
For he is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.

Alleluia SEE LK 8:15

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 8:4-15

When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another
journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable. 
“A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled,
and the birds of the sky ate it up.
Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew,
it withered for lack of moisture.
Some seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew,
it produced fruit a hundredfold.”
After saying this, he called out,
“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

Then his disciples asked him
what the meaning of this parable might be.
He answered,
“Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God
has been granted to you;
but to the rest, they are made known through parables
so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.

“This is the meaning of the parable. 
The seed is the word of God.
Those on the path are the ones who have heard,
but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts
that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear,
receive the word with joy, but they have no root;
they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.
As for the seed that fell among thorns,
they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along,
they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, 
and they fail to produce mature fruit.
But as for the seed that fell on rich soil,
they are the ones who, when they have heard the word,
embrace it with a generous and good heart,
and bear fruit through perseverance.”