Sometimes it does not take much to go from rocky ground to fertile soil – to go from being barren and resistant to grace/love, to being a complete vessel of that very love and grace. As you know, many years ago, Fr. Hanneke and I met with Fr. Vic about our concerns with his drinking and our demand that he seek treatment. Of course, according to him, “he did not have a problem.” It was a cold few days in the rectory. He was seriously contemplating leaving the priesthood. But, in his own telling of the story to you, do you remember what changed for him? Do you remember what was the catalyst that moved him from being rocky ground to fertile soil? A tossed Frisbee. One poorly tossed Frisbee, and rocky ground became fertile soil.
Perhaps you remember the story as Fr. Vic shared it upon his return. At the fish fry on the day after we confronted him, Bummer Barry brought a ton of Frisbee’s to the event. Why, I’ll never know. As Fr. Vic was walking from the garage to the Parish Center kitchen, one of the rugrats had grown very frustrated with his inability to throw a Frisbee. The errant throw landed at Vic’s feet. “Aargh, it never goes where I want it to. Fr. Vic, can you help me?” Vic, growing up in the 70’s, lived, in his own words, with one attached to his hand. And so he showed the kid how to grip it and how to toss it, and when the kid tried, the Frisbee went exactly where he had thrown it. He looked at Fr. Vic and said simply: “Gee, Fr. Vic, you’re great.” In that moment, the walls of resistance came tumbling down, and the rocky ground became fertile soil. He said of that moment later: “I knew I had to go for him and for all the people who look to me for guidance and love.” And if God can accomplish that movement of grace by a frisbee – imagine what he can do when we give him our lives.
In God’s timing and providence, it does not take much to change rocky ground to fertile soil. I remember a college student telling me how much she had struggled all her life to believe that she was loveable and worthwhile. She was not endowed with the looks of a model. But on retreat, as part of a prayer experience, someone whispered to her quietly: “You are so beautiful.” And the stony, rocky ground of her heart, so carefully protected and barricade from just about everything, became fertile soil. “I don’t know what was different about that time, because I had heard the message before. But, somehow, that time, it got through, and I have believed that ever since.” Sometimes it only takes a whisper to change rocky ground into fertile soil.
In today’s gospel, Jesus does not promise that all the sowing will bear fruit. But if these two simple examples ring as true in your life as they ring in mine, then sow extravagantly. Because we dare not chance that the message won’t get through. In a thousand ways we must tell our children we love them; our neighbors that they matter; our community that together we are sent to bring the kingdom. Sow extravagantly in your words and deeds, for you’ll never know if what God has put into your heart to say and do is exactly what the person before you needs to hear at exactly the right time.
Practically, pick ONE area this week to sow some seeds – take the kids to a ball game, go to dinner and movie with the spouse, a visit to a shut in, make a holy hour with God – it matters not. But sow extravagantly.
You see, we’ll seldom know, this side of eternity, exactly what we said or did that changed rocky ground into fertile soil. But it happens all the time, because God is so extravagant and the seed of his love is so powerful. Be sowers, therefore, of God’s love this week.