The good ground

ONE of the very popular parables in the gospel is that of the sower and the seed. (cfr. Mt 13,1-23; Mk 4,1-20; Lk 8,1-15) There we are told about the four kinds of soil on which the seeds of the sower fell. There were seeds that fell on the pathway, on a rocky ground, on thorns and finally on a good ground.

Applied to us, the soil that we should try to be is the last one, the good ground, where the seeds that fell on it took root and bore fruit. We should try to avoid being a pathway where the seed that fell on it could not take root and were quickly picked up by birds.

Neither should we be like the rocky ground where the seeds cannot live long since they cannot sink their roots deep enough. Nor should we be like the thorns where some seeds also fell. These thorns are like weeds that would eventually choke the seeds.

For us to be a good ground, we have to see to it that our mind and heart are always receptive to the things of God. In a manner of speaking, we need to prepare our mind and heart, tilling them every so often, enriching them with some fertilizers, allowing them to rest and fallow after harvest time, so that the things of God can easily take root and produce fruit.

This means that we should spend some time praying, studying the sacred doctrine of our faith, availing of the sacraments, especially those of confession and the Holy Eucharist, developing the virtues, making sacrifices, doing apostolate and works of mercy, etc.

In that way, our mind and heart would be properly attuned to the things of God which actually are what are good and proper to us. We should realize more deeply that we need to do these things to keep our mind and heart in their proper condition, since it is very easy for us to take them for granted.

In that way, we become more sensitive to God’s will and ways and more able to cooperate in them. We would avoid becoming what Christ said about those with hardened minds and hearts: “Do you still not see or understand? Do you have such hard hearts? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?” (Mk 8,7-8)

We have to feel the need to encourage everyone to make themselves a good ground for the things of God by doing their part of preparing their minds and hearts properly.

Yes, we need to pray, which is actually more of listening and discerning what God is telling and showing us, than of us talking to him. For this we ought to have the proper dispositions by enlivening our faith, having recourse to the sacraments, studying the doctrine of our faith, etc., so we can be more perceptive of what God is showing us.

Given the temper of the times when we are pressured to be very active at the expense of our need to be contemplative, we have to make some sustained effort to accompany, catechize, motivate and lead others to the realization that we have to learn to be real contemplatives even in the middle of the world, so that we can be a good ground for God’s will and ways.

The world today needs genuine men and women of God who cooperate actively in God’s continuing work of human redemption. We should start with our own selves, and with apostolic zeal let us help others to be also men and women of God.

Now that the world is flooded with many absorbing developments that can hijack us from our proper relationship with God and with others, we have to be more determined to make ourselves the good ground so that we can be true men and women of God!