My dear brothers and sisters, today's readings remind us that our soul is like soil, must be good if we expect good things to grow from it.
Prophet Isaiah taught us that God's word comes down like the rain to nourish the earth and help good things grow. Throughout salvation history, the Lord has rained down many words to help his creation thrive and grow, but with mixed results.
Isaiah reminds us today that those mixed results are not the Lord's fault; they're ours. The rain produces fields ripe for cultivation, but it takes work to reap the seeds that will keep the crops going and keep bread on tables.
St. Paul in today's Second Reading reminds us that sin did not just mess up agriculture; it messed up the designs of creation itself by diverting it from its purpose. The Lord created many things for us to love and serve him as well for loving and serving others.
As we saw in the First Reading, the results were mixed due to an inadequate response on our part to his designs. Paul goes beyond the fertile fields described by Isaiah: all of creation is a fertile field that will reap a glorious harvest: eternal life.
Sin tried to frustrate that glorious harvest, but the Word came to show us how to follow God's plan for a glorious harvest once again and help creation achieve its purpose again.
Today's Gospel is the Parable of the Sower, and the seed being sown is the Word of God trying to make its way into a soul. Through the parable, Our Lord explains the obstacles to the Word of God bearing good fruit. Our Lord invites us to see the difference between hearing something and listening, between looking at something and seeing it. Just as farmers till the soil we must be active in letting the Word of God bear fruit in our life by cultivating the soil of our soul.
We shouldn't be afraid of welcoming and nourishing the seed of God's Word because God has sown it for a good purpose and he will continue to watch over the soil and cultivate it. He may ask for something demanding, but he'll be with you every step of the way, and he has plans for something good to grow out of your generosity and sacrifice.
Parables present something from daily life, but are also doorways to other spiritual and divine insights about God, the "knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven." It's not enough to look at the door: it must be opened to discover what lies beyond. When we see parables in this way when we see the Word of God in this way, we see something from which we can draw profound truths regarding ourselves, our world, and Our Lord, not just once, but constantly.
That requires an effort in faith to listen and to see, an effort to open our hearts and open that door into the greater world Our Lord wants to reveal to us.
If we don't understand what he is telling us, his Word stays on the surface and doesn't penetrate our hearts, and the Evil One can easily sweep it away before it has any effect. There is an active Evil presence out there that would like us to remain shallow and superficial and someday lose eternity with God, which is why we always need to watch and pray in moments of temptation and seek to understand God's Word with profundity.
There's a moment where an insight into his Word causes sensible consolations and warm feelings, but sentiments are often skin deep and change direction like the wind. If we only listen to feel good, when we start feeling bad we'll stop listening–enthusiasm only lasts so long. God's Word wants to be with us and help us in our ups and downs; he always has something to say, so whether we're exultant about something or despondent, we need to keep listening, harder if needed.
Life Depends on Water
When helping a struggling community that lacks basic resources one of the first priorities is to establish a clean source of water. Unclean water causes dysentery, cholera, typhoid, and many other diseases. Water-related diseases cause 3.4 million deaths a year. (https://vestergaard.com/global-challenges/waterborne-diseases)
A drought devastates agriculture and gradually makes life more and more miserable as water rationing becomes necessary. In most agricultural communities' water is managed as a precious commodity. When the rains come, they bring life to everyone, good and bad (see Matthew 5:45).
Listening at Prayer
Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. (1993-2014) wrote a beautiful little book, Listening at Prayer, with a simple and powerful premise: sometimes in prayer, you just have to be quiet and listen. We often recite prayers or launch into our needs as soon as we have a quiet moment of prayer, but we don't take much time to listen.
Prayer is a conversion with God, but imagine if you do all the talking? Does Our Lord get a word in edgewise when you're speaking with him in prayer?
It's good to start your prayer praising Our Lord and thanking him for all he's done, but Samuel teaches us what to say after that: "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening" (see 1 Samuel 3 for Samuel's story).