THE SEED ON THE GOOD SOIL

Meditation for Saturday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

(1 Tim 6:13-16; Lk 8:4-15)

Today we come to the end of our Mass readings’ meditation on St Paul’s first letter to Timothy. His concluding instruction is very clear: “I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

For us to remain faithful and fruitful in Jesus Christ, the parable of the sower indicates the generosity of God and the struggles we must overcome along the way. In his love and generosity, the Sower makes his seed available to all kinds of soil, both the fruitful and the unfruitful. But each seed had the same capacity to reach maturity and be fruitful. The different soils and conditions to which the seeds were subjected to made the difference. The fruitful seed must not end up ALONG THE PATH, where it will be trodden under foot, and evil birds of the air devour its faith and righteousness. The seed must avoid ending up ON THE ROCK of ‘occasion of sin’, where it will not have spiritual nourishment for sustainable growth. Such seed that want to be fruitful cannot grow AMONG THORNS ‘of the flesh’, where it will be choked and denied the spiritual joy of the freedom of the children of God.

“And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundred-fold.” If human heart is the soil on which the seed of the word of God is sown, it must remain steadfast as the ‘good soil.’ And that means it must be guarded but never allowed to be an open pathway where anything goes; it must be watered and nourished, never to be a dry hardened rock; it needs pruning and weeding so that wide thorns of pleasure will not choke it into slavery! To be ‘a good soil’, like St Paul charged Timothy, ‘until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ’, does not come by chance. It takes dedication, focus, and in keeping with the commandments. “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.” Amen.

Saint Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us. Amen.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Saturday September 18th, 2021.
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