Fr. Michael Williams

Seeds and plants are certainly not my strong point! I managed to keep a cactus alive for a few years once, but generally plants don’t last too long with me!

Our Lord seems to have a good working knowledge of seeds and plants, and uses this knowledge to describe the mysterious growing of the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst. ‘The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven are revealed to us’ using such parables.

In today’s parable Jesus calls us to contemplate the mystery of how the Word of God grows in some people, but seems not to take root in others.

For the Word of God to take root in someone Jesus says they need to be fertile territory; they need to be ‘rich soil’. The rich soil could be seen as the person who is open to listening to the Word of God; someone who listens deep within to the still and calm voice of God. To be rich soil we need to cultivate the art of listening to the Lord in our hearts. There’s appears to be far too much noise in our modern society. Constant noise is generally not fertile ground for God’s Word to flourish; the devil loves endless noise and clatter, but God desires silence and peace, and then His Word can flourish within us.

The fertile soil also needs to be watered, and in the spiritual life the water is the Holy Spirit, who has been poured into our hearts, and allows us to pray to God, to cry out to Him. The Spirit of prayer is the water that is poured over the fertile soil to help bring growth in God; to produce a harvest for God. The harvest or fruits of the Holy Spirit are: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Gal 5:22). Regular, constant prayer is like the water that God needs to grow His Word within us. It’s important to recognise that we can water the Word of God for others, through our prayers and sacrifices. Hardened hearts can be moistened by the Holy Spirit.

Of course any seed or plant also needs some sunshine too. Sitting in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament helps us to be nourished by the true Light of the World, the Light that enlightens all people. Spending time in front of the Tabernacle in our local parish or here or the Blessed Sacrament Shrine in town or the Cathedral, is an opportunity for the Lord to shed His Light upon us for our spiritual growth.

Jesus also speaks today of some of the obstacles that stop God’s word growing within us: ‘The evil one…trials…persecutions…the worries of the world…the lure of riches’. We will all experience these realities in differing ways, which seek to stop God’s Word bearing fruit within us.

The analogy of the seed and the plant is not perfect, because we have one quality that no seed or plant has: we have free-will. We can allow God to allow His Word grow within us, or we can close ourselves to His cultivating powers.

Let’s pray for the grace then to be fertile soil, so that the Lord can grow His Word within us bearing much good fruit.