The root of the message offered in today’s Gospel is what is foundational to beginning and continuing as a disciple of Jesus? The foundation is the disposition of our hearts. Are we closed to receiving the message of the Gospel, or are we open to embrace the invitation Jesus shares to become more active in living out our faith in our everyday lives?
The exchange of Jesus with his disciples in today’s reading from Matthew comes after his sharing of the Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:1-9). In this parable, Jesus offers scenarios regarding the conditions of seeds sown. Some fell on a hardened path, some on rocky ground, some fell among thorns, and some fell on the rich soil. The seeds on the hardened path could not even germinate. Those in rocky ground and among thorns germinated and began to even sprout but would not come to full maturity. The seed that was sown in rich soil germinated, sprouted, matured, and bore fruit.
As disciples, we are meant to bear fruit and that means we need to prepare ourselves so that we will have rich soil. We break through the hard ground when we open our hearts and minds. If we have a desire to pray, the hardened soil has given way somewhat. The seed has penetrated, died and has begun to germinate. God is the originator of our prayer. The desire to spend time in prayer is good news. The devil has not stolen that from us.
One of the most important things we can do each day is to breathe, receive, rest, and abide in God’s love. Spending time intentionally breathing slowly and deeply not just into the chest but also activating the diaphragm, slows our heart rate down and sends the message to our brains that we are safe. Our muscles will then release pent up tensions. Three such breaths can make a difference. Then making the Sign of the Cross, we invite each Person of the Trinity to dwell within us. Continuing then to breathe, we can begin to receive and rest in God’s love for us. A few minutes of recollection in the bank, we are now ready to meditate and pray. Doing so with the readings of the day can be very powerful and transformative.
Now if we do not follow through on the inspiration of nor follow the nudging of the Holy Spirit, when we aren’t even able to allow ourselves time to make the Sign of the Cross or take three, deep breaths, means we have some tilling to do. We need to remove some clay and rocks of resistance, distraction, and diversion so that we can get deeper. Satan knows how important it is for us to pray everyday and he will subtly seek to lead us astray in the smallest of ways. If not able to dissuade us, he will attempt to make our time functional and anemic, something we do and check the box. We may begin to pray daily for a time, but without any deeper root or experiencing any living water of the Holy Spirit, we may be led away, skip a day, or two, then a few more, then walk away.
If we commit to showing up each day seeking to experience the love of God, coming to a place that we have created and set aside for ourselves to breathe and be still will help us to begin the work of facing those internal resistances and diversions. We can begin the process of uprooting the thorns of anxiety and worry. We can begin to see where our hearts and minds may have been hardened. By breathing and slowing down, we get in touch with our body and may be surprised by how tense we are. With just a few breathes we may notice that our shoulders come to a more peaceful place of rest. Our neck and our hips can begin to let go.
Richer soil will allow growth. Among good soil grows what has been planted, the seeds of the enemy as well as the seeds of God.
As we continue to return each day and allow God to happen, in reading, meditating, praying with God’s word, or also sitting with God in the same silence and bringing to him our struggles and challenges, as well as our successes and triumphs in thanksgiving, to acknowledge his presence and closeness and just rest with him, we can continue to allow his light to reveal other areas where thorns and other weeds that seek to choke the growth that has begun.
Anxieties, worries, frustration, and reactions all choke out the peace, faith, confidence, and love that God seeks to sow and grow within us. Past unrealized and unhealed wounds may also come to the four in holy tears. Being diligent and disciplined in showing up, allows us to begin to feel safe in the place we have set aside. In encountering God each day, we begin to know him. In this place of stability, we come to know that God is our refuge and strength, and we begin to feel safe. From this place of safety and trusting in the Jesus, we can allow him into places where we seek to be healed and receive his consolation and healing, we can also admit to ourselves where we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and God will forgive us. Where we uncover more habitually hardened and mortal sins, we can go to the priest for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and be forgiven there as well.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God if we are willing to allow the fertilizer of God’s love to penetrate. God helps us to tend the gardens of our souls patiently and gently. Thoughts of condemnation and shame are the poison of the enemy that seek to stunt our healing, growth, and spiritual maturity. The gentle light of Jesus is that light that brings warmth and safety. The conviction he brings is the light that helps us to identify that which needs to be weeded and pruned so that our soil becomes richer and our growth can continue unimpeded. In time and with disciplined attention, daily coming to our places of quiet with the Lord, spending time in his word, we will be forgiven, healed, and freed from that which seeks to stifle our growth and we will continue to mature and begin to bear good fruit, the gifts and charisms that the Holy Spirit has sown within our good soil at Baptism.
Whatever the state of the soil of our soul that we bring to this reading whether it be a hardened and worn path, rocky ground, weeds and thorns, know that there is some soil to work with. Like any garden that is to grow, mature plants that bear good fruit will take time, energy, and work. The most difficult state and the one Jesus addressed in today’s Gospel is the heart of indifference that is closed, the seed falling on the well-trod path, that is hard and packed so nothing gets through. For these people, “they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand” (Mt 13:13). Yet, even this soil can be turned and tilled. Even the hardest heart can be softened if one is willing to stop and be still long enough to experience the loving embrace of God.
Jesus, in his explanation of why he spoke in parables, is an echo of his inaugural message from when he began his ministry: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). Before we may be willing to repent, we may need to first acknowledge the places in our hearts and minds that are closed, those areas that are hardened from real or perceived past pain or trauma, those situations in which we chose to shut down and separate ourselves from receiving the love of God and others.
When we allow Jesus to come close, we can experience his healing touch. When we take the risk to accept his help, we will be willing to turn back to him, to repent, even in small ways at first, and so receive his forgiveness and healing. When we trust Jesus, are willing to take his hand, and follow his lead daily, we will learn from our mistakes, we will turn away from more deeply rooted habitual sins, return to him for confession, our hearts will soften and our minds will open even more.
Jesus wants to help us to turn over the rocks we have been hiding our pain under so that we can experience those deeper wounds. This will only happen when we trust Jesus and feel safe. Spending quiet time each day, surrendering and being docile to the Holy Spirit, helps us to do just that. In time, we will feel safer and more confident to pull up the weeds, turn over those stones, and begin to till the fertile soil underneath. Through experiencing our pain, our emotions, and facing our fears, we help to further cultivate fertile soil, in which the seed of God can thrive, be nourished by his unending love, and in which we will mature to bear good fruit that will last.
Photo: Enjoying a quiet evening walk.
Spiritual Stepping Stones 