Word to the Wise
Friday, January 29, 2021 - Friday in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 10:32-39 and Mark 4:26-34]Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised....We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life. [Hebrews] "This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." [Mark]
Serious Christian life requires serious Christian effort. However, it is not meant to be self-fulfilling in the sense that we somehow live this life alone. By its very nature, Christianity is meant to be shared. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, "Good is diffusive of itself." It is meant to spread by its very nature. However, as the scriptures for today remind us, the effort to spread the Good News means endurance and confidence in the goodness of that news! It also requires the kind of patience that farming or gardening demands. A seed will rarely sprout and grow as fast as we would like. As the parable of the seed and sower yesterday reminds us, the soil may not be right. And once the seed sprouts, there are all kinds of environmental challenges that can interfere.
The wise Christian learns when witness requires "action" or "non-action." Sometimes it's best simply to "be" and not try to force things by overacting. There are other times, when conditions are right, to act confidently and forcefully. (One can overwater a plant!) There are times when silence is more eloquent than words, and patience more productive than pushing. The life of faith is a human life with an ultimate goal, but, being human, it can be a messy business because human weakness can mean limited success. This is why we need others to support and encourage us to persevere and to keep planting the seed of the Word of God as well as being good examples of what that seed can grow to be. AMEN