Rich Soil

July 13, 2008

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8: 22-23

But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty fold. Whoever has ears ought to hear. Matthew 13:8-9

Piety

How soaked have I been with the Word of God? Jesus sees himself as the Word and as the Eucharist. He wants to permeate us with his. He takes us up into himself. Our piety shows itself in the ways we freely offer ourselves to be a fullness of his life. My favorite way of looking at it is in the awareness that I am most a Christ when I am most myself in his name. How do I let myself be used by the Lord? The rain that falls from heaven accomplishes its purpose when it soaks into the land.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/071308.shtml

Christ would not be a runoff of rain. He would get deeply into who we are by the touches of his word on our hearts and souls. He gave us his life in our first washing of baptism but he does not overwhelm us in his coming. He waits for us to espouse ourselves to him. Piety is the opening of our hearts to the sharing of his love within us. It takes the form of the work we do and the family we have. How we give ourselves away and make him the most important part of who we are is the work of piety. The practices we ascribe to, make us more and more his, as they become a good part of who we are. Christ could say if you see me, you see my father. We need to be able to say if you see me, you see Christ.

Action

Our actions of life are where piety has its expression. What we do out of love for one another makes Christ real in what people see of our lives. The maxim “preach always and occasionally use words” becomes the true apostolic action of our lives. Now that the special year in honor of St. Paul has begun, it might be better to say aloud to our friends what we are trying to do in the name of Christ. However, that is not necessary as long as we are living our lives as we perceive Christ would live our lives if he were us.

We need to make of our lives a rich soil for the word of God to take root in. The better our preparation, the greater the fruit of our apostolic work, is a foregone conclusion. We need to pick our fields of work. There is much to be done and too few laborers of his fields. We need to be searching for young people to take our place and continue our work. There is rich soil to be tilled in our friends if we are willing to bring them to Christ with us.