Are you Tilling your Spiritual Life?

by David Lins  |  07/16/2023  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

You’ve heard this Sunday’s Gospel before, but have you paid attention?

In the parable, we meet the worst gardener in the whole wide world. He’s throwing seeds on the path. He’s tossing seeds into the rocks. He’s sprinkling seeds into the thornbushes. And it is almost as if he gets lucky and hits a patch of fertile super-soil.

Then, he says the most curious thing of all: “Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

This line tells us that not everyone is going to get this one. And this makes sense, given the subject matter.

The Lord gives the opportunity for eternal life to every single one of us.

Some of us are hardened and want no part of his forgiveness, grace, and love. Others among us believe, but our faith is shallow and cannot sustain hardship. Still others allow our faith to be choked out by the burdens of this life. Finally, there are those among us who till our spiritual soil with personal prayer, reading our Bibles, and lives soaked in the sacraments. Those who do this, have souls where God’s grace can multiple and have an impact for generations.

But that isn’t the whole story. Those among us who till our spiritual soil with personal prayer, reading our Bibles, and lives soaked in the sacraments, “have the ears to hear.”

They read the Bible and begin to understand deeper levels of meaning. Homilies resonate and have the power to have lasting impact. Wisdom comes to them from out of nowhere… except they know precisely where it comes from.

May we all till the soil of our souls so that we may be wise in Christ, understand a bit more of our Lord, and increase our desire to dive into our Faith all the deeper.

Then—and only then—will we produce fruit for the Lord, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.