Br Alex Swain

Beloved in Christ,

The act of gardening is an intimate and labor-intensive process. It involves care, attention, and crawling on our knees in the dust (on dry days) and mud (on wet days) to inspect, to attend, to encourage.

There are weeds which spring up, insects which devour, javelinas which break in and consume. Droughts to battle with and a scorching, relentless sun to respect. The spiritual life, as Jesus notes in today’s Gospel, is much like that of a garden.

God speaks each day to us, the “Sower sows the word.”

Upon which type ground is our Lord’s voice falling today?

Understanding the “soil” we are in, the life contexts and situations where we find ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually, can tell us a lot about how we may hear, and respond, to God’s call in our life.

We may be in a place where we are under spiritual attack, and the word of God bounces off us and is carried away by the stressors and demands and difficulties therein.

We may be in a place of rocky ground where we respond briefly, brightly, to God’s call but draw back because we may not have developed the roots to dive deeply into faith.

I suspect many of us find ourselves sown among thorns—hearing the word of God in a world bent on consuming us as we consume it. A world which crowds out and competes with the pure calling of God.

And, blessedly, some may receive the word of God on fertile, receptive soil.

Regardless of where we find ourselves, we can take away several wonderful gifts from our Lord’s words.

First, God is eternally sowing the word in our hearts. We may find ourselves in a season of drought or despair, but it will not be forever; God is always sowing and seeking to for us to grow.

Second, by knowing the kind of soil we find ourselves in, we can help, through prayer, friendship, and spiritual direction, to change the life circumstances to better facilitate the growth of the word in our hearts. We can put down potting soil on top of the rocky ground. We can pluck the weeds from our lives.

Slowly, assuredly, with care and attention, the soil of our heart becomes fertile and ready to bear the fruit which God so desires for our lives.

—Br Alex