20 July 2022
Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The profound richness of the parables posed by Christ is evident from the fact that no matter how many times they are presented they never cease to be relevant to our lives. The parable of the sower is a simple one that we have likely heard countless times but cuts very directly to a critical question: how do we cultivate the soil of our hearts and promote the growth of vibrant, life-giving faith?
In order to grow to maturity and eventually bear fruit, a seed needs good soil that can support the growth of the plant through periods of adversity. Our faith lives are very much the same. If our hearts are hard and rocky, the seed of faith won’t be able to find a foothold and will simply die. If our hearts are shallow, faith may take root and shoot up for a brief period but will wither and die at the first sign of difficulty because it won’t have the nutritive depth necessary to support it. If we do not intentionally order our hearts properly, the seed of faith may sprout up and begin to grow but will ultimately be choked to death by competing ideologies and temporal priorities.
As such, the takeaway of this parable is the necessity of being intentional about the way that we tend the garden of our own soul. Do we till and cultivate the soil of our hearts so that it is maximally receptive to God with the hope of bearing good fruit in the future? Do we surround ourselves with people who will encourage us, help us, and support us in our pursuit of faith and truth? Are we malleable and open to change? Or are our hearts set so thoroughly on pursuing our own desires that the seeds of light and grace are unable to take root and thrive? Just as gardening requires a certain amount of daily diligence, let us also be attentive daily to the contents of our hearts and strive to live lives that will eventually produce fruit a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.