“Unless the grain fall to the earth…”
Our Lord’s famous line tells us of the kingdom to come upon all who take His Word seriously. Our hearts are restless until we direct them to rest in the overwhelming heart of Jesus. This heart is faithfully expressed by the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Now it is time to put our spiritual two plus two’s together. Jesus Christ is the only and the eternal grain that the Father sent to us in order to prepare our hearts for eternity.
There are four conditionswhich expose the soil in our souls:
- Trodden
- Rock hard
- Thorns and thistles
- Good soil
These existing conditions can be brought under divine submission through one means only…suffering for the salvation of souls and the glory of God our Father. Consider the trodden paths that edge our life’s little way. We are jaded by the words and reactions of others to ourselves. Human respect hardens the pathways which we follow in our quest for meaning. We have focused upon ourselves and are unable to see the true meaning of what we are doing. We are falling into the pit of the mundane. Conquer it by means of the jack-hammer of the cross. Suffering alone removes the quest of human respect and seeks to know and love what God is trying to do within my soul. Principle for each of us to inscribe into our souls is that suffering and divine glory are over any value this world presents.
In the second position is the soul that is hardened by convenience and its own comfort. This soul hears the Word of God (Jesus) and responds readily but has no moisture and nor roots. Again the world takes primary place in this soul and only the love of the Cross can break through the rocks of Calvary and plantthe tree of life there. If this takes place then fertility becomes the rock. We can never just say I will do better. We are incapable of any good if we do not act in faith. With faith in the suffering of Christ there is the potential of the divine invasion.
Our third condition is one of distraction to the really real. All that God has created is good and it is beautiful. Our human nature is attracted to the excitement of the world, its pleasures and even itsrewards. Yet all of this accounts for nothing when placed against eternal life with the Author of allcreation. The soul must not become attached to the glitter of this life but must pierce through theglitter to the Light of the World. The divine seed, Jesus, offers us this light through the sufferings of the Cross. Suffering becomes the purest means of taking the soul to its goal. Everything in this worldis nothing compared to sharing in the Cross of Jesus, seeking to glorify the Father through the Cross of the Son in the Spirit of reparation for the sins of all mankind.
Finally, all these soils are united through the sufferings endured through the hand of God. He knows better than any of us what will sanctify this wondrous soul He has delicately placed within our body’sloveliness. When His greatest gift of pain touches our souls the life of the body focuses upon the eternal and becomes fruitful even though the body be in an iron lung, or on a bed of thorns. You name it and the Father will use it to bring us (if we will it) to a deeper interior life with the Holy Trinity.Jesus is the grain, He is the mustard seed, He is the leaven, He is the Crucified One Who loves us to perfection. Grasp the Cross and never let it go.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt, S.D.B.
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