Good Soil and the Sacramental Life
Seed must be surrounded by good soil to grow. So too is it with us and the spiritual life.
Image Credit: Our Way to God
One purpose of giving a homily is to explain the day’s Gospel. But what is a priest to do when Jesus explains the Gospel for us? Why, go even deeper of course! There is one such parable in Matthew that Jesus gives:
“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear” (Mt. 13:3-9).
And Jesus explains the meaning of the parable to us quite clearly:
“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” (Mt. 13:18-23)
Simple enough, right? Not so fast. Just as there are many different senses of scripture, so too are there multiple layers of meaning in the text. I do not think it is a coincidence that Jesus picked the image of seed and soil to convey the goodness of hearing the Word of God and understanding it. The imagery of a seed surrounded by rich soil is an important image that Jesus is attempting to convey to us. A seed needs to be surrounded by rich soil in order to bear abundant fruit. Similarly, in our own lives, we need to be surrounded by rich soil in order to grow in holiness, and that is living the sacramental life.
I’m using the word sacramental here intentionally instead of sacraments, which are instituted by Christ. The word “sacramental” is a broader term defined as a tangible sign pointing towards eternity. Because we are body-soul composites, we understand reality in a unified way. We don’t see everything around us as merely material (like our bodies), even if our culture really wants to believe that that is the case. Nor do we see reality as only spiritual (like our souls).
Growing in holiness is ultimately a reception of grace given by God that transforms the human person. We don’t see grace directly, although we may certainly see its effects. But how can we grow in holiness if we don’t see it directly? One way is to be surrounded by sacramentals, by signs that point to eternity, so that we can understand spiritual realities in a more human way and thus be transformed by God’s abundant grace.
Let’s get practical here. There are three tangible ways that we can live a sacramental life and be surrounded by God’s grace.
The first is that we must be surrounded by holy men and women. The call of every Christian is to be an alter Christi. When we imitate Christ, people do not see us—they see our Lord. The old trope is that they will know we are Christians by our love. But the inverse is also true. If we act like everyone around us and focus only on ourselves, why would we expect others to see Jesus Christ in us? If our hearts are not transformed by supernatural charity, why do we lament when people do not encounter almighty God?
If our world around is not oriented towards charity (and it often is not—hence why Jesus said he came to heal the sick), it is easier to slip into selfishness than it is to grow in the habitual virtue of dying to one’s self for the good of the other. Our Lord fiercely spoke of the ultimate goal of the Incarnation: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk. 12:49). What happens when a log is removed from the fire? It becomes the temperature of those around it, neither hot nor cold, which the Lord spits out in an act of rejection (Rev. 3:16).
Please do not misunderstand me—I am not proposing The Benedict Option here. We must be in the world but not of it. The Son of God’s last commission to his disciples was to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19) and that seems difficult to do if everyone is in their own bubble. But we do need people around us that will push us to grow in holiness, which involves the charitable act of fraternal correction. If the majority of your friends lead you away from Jesus Christ or encourage you in mediocrity, you need new friends. Do not hesitate. Eternity is waiting. The time we have is precious, and we must use it to bring all people to Jesus. And in order to bring people to Jesus, we need good men and women to support us. Our Lord did not send the disciples out alone—he sent them out in pairs (Mk. 6:7).
The second recommendation is to have daily reminders of God’s presence. There are many ways of doing this. There are physical images that can be placed wherever we spend a lot of our time: our homes, our office, or our cars. Throughout my room and my desk, for example, I have an icon of St. Jacek, a charcoal painting of St. Dominic, a ceramic statue of Jesus and Mary, a cross with our crucified Lord, and an icon of the Blessed Mother. Every time I look at them, I remember what it is I am really on this earth for.
Another way to practice the presence of God is to pray throughout the day. That can be as simple as saying a Hail Mary when you see a holy image, praying for people you encounter, or reciting a verse of scripture every so often. The goal is to live with Jesus. This is not say we should be afraid of Jesus and do good only because we feel like he is watching (although he is). Rather, we should strive for more perfect charity by doing little things with great love as we would do for a close friends. Remember, Jesus called us not his servants, but his friends (Jn. 15:15)!
Finally, but most importantly, we should strive to be in intimate union with God through prayer and the sacraments. Ultimately, prayer is a conversation with Our Lord, and what better way to get closer to a friend than by spending time with him? Jesus wants to hear what is on our hearts—even though he already knows what is—because he wants us to be in a relationship with him and to recognize that he can and will fill the deepest longings of our souls. Prayer is nourishment for our soul. It will bring us to the lofty mysteries on high, like an eagle soaring to Heaven.
The sacraments must also be central to the Christian life. A sacrament is “an efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” (Credo, p. 34). A sacrament signifies what it causes: baptism, purification using water, and the Eucharist, divine nourishment under the appearance of bread, just to name a couple of them. The sacraments are the greatest gift God gave to us. It is an outpouring of divine life in a way that is accessible to us. Therefore, it is not just a missed opportunity to neglect the sacraments—neglect of these gifts is to shut the door to the Divine. As we come into the season of Lent, we should strive to go to Daily Mass once more a week than we normally do and go to confession a few times in these next 40 days. Do not let the thorns of our world obstruct your growth in holiness. There is no soil richer than the Lord himself, and the sacraments are fundamental to that soil.
Let us give thanks to God for his wisdom in this parable—may we strive to grow closer to him planted on rich soil that will take our negligible gifts and multiply them a hundred fold to build up the Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.