A Special Mission!

We all have a unique role to play in spreading God’s Kingdom on earth.  Each one of us has received from God a unique combination of talents, experiences, sufferings, and relationships. He has prepared each of us for a special mission—a mission that no one else has.  Each of us is very dear to Him and He holds us close to His Most Sacred Heart.  He loves us as His precious children. As we are told in today’s readings, particularly in the Gospel, He has given us what we need to carry out our mission, but He wants us to prepare our hearts for it and lay down the roots that will connect us to Him. To use the language from today’s Gospel reading, He plants a seed in our hearts and we must prepare them in such a way that will enable Him to bring forth a good fruit.  We must do some work and show Him that we are ready for our mission.

Today’s readings offer guidance to help us open our hearts to the seed that He wants to plant.  First we must clear away stuff in our lives that can inhibit the growth of the seed.   We have to identify what prevents us from having a relationship with Him, whether it is a particular attachment, distraction, sin or fear.  It is good to think about things in our lives and discern whether they bring us to a closer relationship with Him or lead us away.  Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “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.”  When we fill our lives with sin and distractions and such, the “soil” in our hearts cannot be rich and fertile but is instead cluttered with “weeds.”  Clearing away the weeds is the beginning of our “yes” to God.

Once we clear out the clutter in our hearts, we need to put out strong roots in the soil that will keep us connected to Him.  We do this by remaining close to Him in prayer and directing our thoughts and actions to Him.  The voice of God tells us in the first reading, “Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats…”“His Word and His Will remain in our hearts until His purpose for our lives is brought to fruition.  If we call to mind everyday His love and grace He will always reveal His Will to us and give us the strength to remain faithful to it.  Calling to mind His Love for us everyday will ensure that we will have an abundance of the “bread” and “seed” spoken of in today’s first reading.

Once we have cleared out the clutter and strengthened the roots that connect our hearts to Him, we must build a fence around the soil so that nothing can destroy the Lord’s planted seed and the roots we’ve extended.  Three things come to mind when I think of this fence that we must build around our hearts: virtue, patience, and perseverance.  The same stuff that we cleared out before we extended our roots is the same stuff that we must keep outside of our fence.  The fence must be grounded in virtue so that it will not collapse.  We must be steadfast in our commitment to lead a good and holy life and willing to reject whatever can destroy our relationship with God.  We must desire to always do what is good and reject evil, even when life gets tough.  Because this is no easy task, we can always ask God for the grace of perseverance.  St. Paul, in today’s second reading, reminds us that God wants to shower us with His grace and glory and to one day share in that glory for eternity.  He writes, “For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God…” He writes about suffering, saying that He counts it as nothing compared with the glory that God wants to reveal to us.  Suffering is a particularly strong weed that can wreak havoc on our hearts.  We fight its harmful effects with patience and perseverance in our faith lives.  He wants us to keep focused on Him and not the things of this world. 

Let us remember today that we are not alone in any of our life experiences.  We have a Good God who loves us dearly and desires nothing bad to happen to us.  We also have each other. We should help one another to carry out our missions in this life.  We should ask God to help us by giving us guidance and strength to remain faithful to our missions.  When we think we don’t have the strength to do what He asks, we should ask Him to fulfill this work in us.  In other words, give Him the reins.  He wants us to make His glory known to all people, but doesn’t want to do it alone.  He wants us to work with Him.  Are you ready for the challenge?