“HE BUILDS the upper rooms of his palace in heaven and sets its foundation supports on the earth,” the prophet Amos says, describing the Lord, Creator of the universe. “He summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the earth’s surface” (Amos 9:6). Perhaps Jesus, upon reading these words of the prophet, would also be amazed to consider how all creation reveals his Father to us. The Gospel so often shows us Jesus teaching in the open air, on the shores of the lake, as though He wanted to take advantage of the marvelous setting of nature, the work of his Father God, to speak to those around Him.
Although the shore has room for a large crowd, this time the place He has chosen fills up quickly. Word spreads that Jesus is there. The beach ends up being too small, so our Lord has to get into a boat. From this swaying, makeshift platform, He addresses the crowd, telling the story of a sower who went out to sow. “And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Mt 13:4-8).
For many of those present, it would have been easy to imagine this scene, since it was part of their daily life. Jesus seeks ways to make himself understood, and tries to reach both intellect and heart, using a language based on his listeners’ experience. In short, moved by a deep spirit of service, our Lord adapts himself to the mentality of his listeners. “God is not a mathematical intelligence far from us. God takes an interest in us, he loves us, he has entered personally into the reality of our history, he has communicated himself, even to the point of taking flesh. In Jesus of Nazareth we encounter the face of God.”[1] Do we too try to bear witness to the Christian message by putting ourselves into the shoes of those around us, seeking to understand their hopes and concerns?
IN THE PARABLE of the sower, not all seeds fare the same. Although the seed is always good—for it represents the gifts and graces that God bestows upon our lives—it needs suitable soil to grow and bear fruit. A heart blocked by fears, by the desire to have everything under control or to store up material possessions, is soil where the seed cannot take root. In contrast, a simple soul, open to receiving divine love, enables God’s gifts to bear fruit and to contribute to the good of others.
“Rocky ground is a terrain that ‘does not have much soil’ (cf. Mt 13:5), so the seed sprouts but is unable to put down deep roots. This is how the superficial heart is: it welcomes the Lord, wants to pray, love and bear witness, but does not persevere; it becomes tired and never ‘takes off.’”[2] The seed needs deep soil in which to take root. Often, the nutrients necessary for growth are not found in the surface layers. but can only be found deep down. Our inner world will have that depth if it manages to go beyond fleeting moods, if it gives rise to the mature stability of deep convictions, to the ideals we want our daily life to be inspired by.
The good seed needs a field cultivated with care and perseverance. Thorns sometimes grow when the land is neglected and left to its own devices. “Our fidelity is a continual act of self-giving: love, unselfishness and magnanimity that are lasting and not just the result of inertia.”[3] Good seed takes root when it encounters a habitual effort to lead a life of prayer, to grasp better the spiritual riches of Christianity, to nurture human relationships at work and in the family. Each of these areas is like a furrow we can cultivate so that, with patience, we begin to see the contemplative life taking root in our own soul.
THE STORY of the sower continues in the life of each of God’s children. Our Lord continues to scatter the seed generously, eager to find hearts open to receiving it. Through each of us, He “continues his divine sowing. Christ presses the grain in his wounded hands, soaks it in his blood, cleans it, purifies it, and casts it into the furrows, into the world. He plants the seeds one by one so that each Christian in his or her own setting can bear witness to the fruitfulness of our Lord’s death and resurrection.”[4]
It is comforting to know that our life is divine seed in our Lord’s hands, sown in this world He created, a world that is good. When we strive to act seeking God’s glory—sometimes erring, sometimes falling, but always beginning again—when we are moved by the desire that others may discover the joy of the Father’s house, the seed germinates, even if we sometimes don’t notice it. “If you follow faithfully the promptings of grace,” Saint Josemaría said, “you will bear good fruit: lasting fruit for the glory of God. To be holy necessarily entails being effective, even though the saint may not see or be aware of the results.”[5]
Sometimes we can become discouraged, mistakenly thinking there is no suitable ground around us for the divine seed to grow. God acts in every situation. Our Lord is an omnipotent sower, and everyone deep down desires God’s happiness in their soul. Those who work alongside the divine sower “know quite well that our lives will be fruitful, without claiming to know how, or where, or when. We may be sure that none of our acts of love will be lost, nor any of our acts of sincere concern for others. No single act of love for God will be lost, no generous effort is meaningless, no painful endurance is wasted.”[6] The Virgin Mary will help us to be closely united to her Son, steeped in his Blood, making our lives ever more fruitful.
[1] Benedict XVI, Audience, 28 November 2012.
[2] Francis, Angelus, 16 July 2017.
[3] Saint Josemaría, Letter 2, no. 12.
[4] Saint Josemaría, Christ Is Passing By, no. 157.
[5] Saint Josemaría, The Forge, no. 920.
[6] Francis, Evangelii gaudium, no. 279.