What Kind of Soil Are You?

Homily for the 15^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 12, 2020. Gospel of St. Matthew 13:1-23. Theme: What Kind of Soil Are You?

I grew up in a family very connected to the land, to fields and farms, and so today’s Gospel is one that I can relate to very easily.  And if you are someone who has a green thumb and is really into gardening than I am sure that you, too, can grasp what Jesus is saying to us today. Like most thing rural and natural, it’s quite simple to understand and makes a lot of sense!

But just to quickly recap in case you haven’t had time to really think about today’s Gospel, in this parable Jesus, the Word of God become human, is the Sower. The seeds are the words of God, that is, the teachings of Christ inviting us to a change of heart, to enter the Kingdom and receive the gift of eternal life. The different kinds of soil are the various responses people can have to both Jesus and his Gospel way of living. If you take some time to ponder this parable you will easily see what Christ is describing and how to identify where you are and where you want to be in this agricultural scenario.

But I think what is very much worth our time is for us to reflect a bit upon how we can make the soil of our hearts better, richer, more receptive for the seed. I think we would all admit that at one time or another we are alternatively a shallow pathway or a rocky ground or a thorny patch.  Not a one of us could honestly say that the soil of our hearts is always welcoming to the Word of God and sprouting its green shoots of faith, hope and love. So, like a good farmer or gardener we need to focus on how to improve our soil so that we can have a lush and fruitful crop, a beautiful and pleasing garden.

There are three things that are essential for this to happen no matter what kind of seed we sow: fertilizer to enrich the soil, water to soften it and increase its capacity for nutrients, and plant food to enrich and sustain the growth.  Each one of these has a corollary in the spiritual life so that the Word of God can be confidently planted within our hearts and produce both the fragrant flowers of virtue and the various fruits of the Holy Spirit.

The first thing that usually happens when we want to improve soil is that we add fertilizer to it. Now we all know where good organic fertilizer come from!  And yes, it is precisely those things in our life, the “stuff” that happens that we would like to avoid, that can actually be the best spiritual fertilizer for us. But just like natural fertilizer we can take the stinky lousy stuff that happens to us and turn it around, putting it to good use for our benefit.

The key is in knowing what to do with it. And what we have to do is to accept, offer and unite these things to the fertilizer that happened in Jesus’ life. Traditionally in Catholicism, this positive turning-fertilizer-into-soil attitude is called the Daily Offering and through it we make a gift of love out of everything- even the stinky bad and the ugly – to the Heart of Jesus, uniting it to love he bore for the Father and for each one of us in the fertilizer of the Passion and Cross. This is key to everything else we can do to improve our soil because it is an act of the will, a matter of the heart, a conversion of our attitude, so that we can see the hand of Christ in all things that take place in our lives and so not be choked by weeds or pricked by the thorns that try to kill the seed of God’s Word within us.

The next step in producing better soil is to water it regularly. Water does s couple of things to make for a better environment for seed-growth. First, it softens the earth making it more pliable and accessible for the planting of the seed. Second, it conditions the earth so that when plant food is given more of the nutrients reach the roots and are not wasted or lost. Now when it comes to supernatural gardening, this water is the grace of God, his blessings and strength rained down upon us by the Holy Spirit. It’s no coincidence that in both Scripture and Liturgy water is a primary symbol of both God’s grace and his Spirit.

The water of God’s grace does for us, for our souls, exactly what natural water does for soil.  It softens us and opens us up to compassion and love. It conditions us to be more open to God’s guidance and inspiration in our daily lives, more attune to what he is asking of us in a particular circumstance or situation. So, we need to know and make use of the ways that God tends to ordinarily bestow this life-giving water upon us.  The words of the Bible, the tradition of the Church and the experience of the saints show us that these ways are three: prayer, good works, and the sacraments.

The first is prayer, which is conversation with God, is personal and variable in how it is done. What is of utmost importance for all of us however is that it be honest and sincere. We own up to where we have gone wrong. We express gratitude for what God has enabled us to do right. We make known our fears, joys, needs and desires with confidence that we are heard and with patience to await an answer in God’s good time. This personal prayer must be a non-negotiable part of our everyday lives.  

Next comes good works is a catch all phrase that is meant to include anything that we do that is a reflection of our interior relationship with Christ.  So, this can cover a whole plethora of things such as deeds of mercy, fasting, spiritual reading, service to the poor and needy, teaching catechism…in short, just about anything we do that is not sinful and that is carried out in the spirit of love for God and neighbor.  Each person’s good works are fashioned according to their particular situation in life and so they are not a matter of “one-size-fits-all”.  But it’s very important for all of us to know that our good works in and of themselves do not earn us the grace of God. Rather, they open our hearts to receive his grace so that the seed of the Word of God can grow more fruitfully in our lives.

Finally, the Mass and sacraments are the essential plant food for the soil of our souls.  We know what each one is for, but do we know who to get the most spiritual nutrients from each of them?  If we want to become good fertile soil then we must approach them with mindful preparation, devout reception, and grateful appreciation. It is so easy, too easy, for us Catholics who are quite used to all the ritual to just go through the motions and parrot back the responses of the liturgy. But if how we do this then we are not good soil at all, but only that shallow footpath or that rocky ground that Jesus warned us about. He said that these types of people fail to produce spiritual fruit because they fail to study and understand his word. They do not grow strong roots in their relationship with God.

To avoid this fatal mistake, we must focus on the Word of God. Every sacrament, and especially the Mass, is steeped in Scripture both in its ritual prayers and in the readings that are proclaimed in its celebration. We need to be good spiritual farmers and gardeners and prepare the soil of our hearts for the seed of God’s Word by reflecting on the Scripture readings either before or after Mass. We need to hear and apply worthwhile homilies that can boost the nutrition of God’s Word, sustaining us throughout our journey on planet Earth.

I am confident that he person who does these things - the person who commits to a lifestyle that includes prayer, good works and the sacraments - will find that the first reading today from the Prophet Isaiah becomes a reality in his or her life.  The grace of God will indeed rain down upon them from Heaven and water the soil of their hearts. It will make their relationship with God fertile and their lives fruitful in living his Word.  They shall return to the God from whom they came with hands and hearts filled with the produce of his blessings, having cultivated by his grace the seeds of peace, love, forgiveness, faith, hope, light and joy.