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Sowing Good Seeds
It all begins with the seeds.
God gifted us good seeds and planted them in our hearts at baptism. Through the Holy Spirit, we receive the graces God gives us to sustain us.
Through the Gospel, the good news, more seeds are spread and planted. But our work as the keepers and tillers of our soil is not a one-and-done deal. We must remain vigilant; we must remain actively sowing and growing.
Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Matthew 13:8
The good seeds in our hearts can mature, blossom, and become good fruit, excellent fruit! i. e., The Fruits of the Spirit.
In this reflection, let’s look at four of these wonderful Fruits of the Spirit and assess how they’re doing. Are they growing? How are we tending to them?
Part I: Love, Joy, Peace, and Patience.
Sowing Love:
As Christians, we are commanded to love God above everything and love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to love our enemies, those who hurt us and persecute us. We are to love one another, as Jesus loves us.
Love is at the core of creation, and its greatest expression, charity, is what sustains it. It is the virtue we should all aspire to cultivate in our hearts.
We can not take our seeds of love for granted. Maybe it’s even hard for us to find them. Maybe we feel that life’s circumstances, our actions, and others’ actions have already trampled them and taken them away.
Do not believe that lie. Our Divine gardener has an endless supply of seeds to give you, to plant in your little plot of soil. Your beating heart is aching for love that’s already there!
As Blessed Fulton J. Sheen wrote in his book Lift Up Your Heart, “Show love to others, and everyone seems lovable,” for “Love begets love.”
At first glance, this seems unreasonable; it doesn’t seem fair or easy to love first. It won’t be, if we try to do it by ourselves. We must rely on God; we must look to the Cross, and see how much He loves us there.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13
Sowing Joy:
The message we live and spread is bittersweet. Our greatest joy, the glory of the Resurrection, is mixed with the great sorrow of Calvary. Amid the pain, tears, and fears, joy blossomed, and it remains.
The world makes it difficult to grow the seeds of joy. News feeds thrive on spreading fear, highlighting disasters, lingering on speculation, and promoting scandal. Mass media’s agenda is not for us. It’s against us.
For our seeds of love and joy to grow, we must tend to our soil. As with the soil of the land, the soil of our souls needs nourishment. When we pause, breathe, and look intentionally, we find an abundance of good things God gives us to nourish our souls.
The Word nourishes our minds, breaks through the walls of our hearts, lifts up our spirits, and helps us grow in relationship with Jesus and in our part in God’s plan of salvation.
We have the Eucharist, the self-giving gift that nourishes our souls, the ongoing mystery that unites us with Christ, fills us with His strength, and points us to something greater.
The invitation to partake in the Mass’s thanksgiving celebration is joyful. We sow and grow seeds of joy when we come to Mass with a heart open to receive the Word, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, and share as the Body of Christ, united in thanksgiving prayer, worship, and songs of praise.
I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
John 16:33
Sowing Peace:
How easy it is to lose our peace! It’s easy to let the world’s troubles and our own anxieties and worries overtake our inner peace.
We all want peace, not the world’s peace, but God’s peace. What does that mean? We want the peace that comes from deep within, the peace that endures, the peace that comes from knowing that, no matter what, we are loved; we are not alone; God is always with us and always in charge.
Rev. Jacques Philippe’s Interior Freedom offers simple, profound, timeless guidance. In this meditation on peace, we are invited to accept ourselves, our limitations, our sufferings, and practice surrender.
Peace comes from surrender. Surrender to God’s plan. What a challenging proposition? How counterintuitive? In this world that heralds self-reliance as the ultimate quality that we need to reach our goals.
Holding on tight to the reins of our lives leaves us exhausted, confused, disappointed, discouraged. Because there’s just so much out of our control!
And we ask and wonder why, not realizing we are struggling, kicking and screaming, while holding on to our ego, when a hand is right there, waiting to pull us out, a voice calling our name, wanting to calm our storm.
And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mark 4:39
Sowing Patience:
For many of us, farming, or even gardening, feels foreign. Our daily lives are far removed from the land and its seasons. It takes patience to till, sow, feed, protect, guard, and wait, and wait, and wait, for the sprouts of hope to break through the soil and for the fragile crop to grow.
We live in the reality of same-day delivery. Streaming services and DoorDash have expanded what we can access. We crave the endless choice; we want the immediate. Anything else feels like a personal affront.
If technology has given us something, it is the false belief that we are entitled to have everything we want, right now. Instant gratification is the weed that grows alongside the wheat of patience. And patience is key.
Patience helps you persevere. When wind, rain, or drought threatens to harm the garden of your soul, uproot the sprouts. Patience helps you wait while you water and let the Lord work; when you cannot yet see any progress, patience and the grace of God will help you feel it.
And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Luke 8:15
There’s still much more to reflect on about Love, Joy, Peace, and Patience. We hope to do so in upcoming posts. Next, we’ll share a meditation on.
Growing and sharing the Fruits of the Spirit in our lives is essential on the path to holiness. As Matthew 7:16 records, Jesus said to His disciples, “You will know them by their fruits.” By our fruits, He will know us.
The wonderful thing is that we did not plant these fruits in our hearts ourselves, and we won’t make them grow on our own. God, through the graces of the Holy Spirit, will help us.
He is the gardener; our hearts are His vineyard. We can trust that, through His pruning and under His watchful eye, the good seed will fall on good soil and grow good fruit in this life and the next.
If you like to ponder these subjects, join us as we tend and grow these humble mustard seeds. We hope you’ll be inspired to sow your own. Come back weekly and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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