rain. dirt. seeds. birthing

Rain. Dirt. Seeds. Birthing15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By. Fr. Joseph Jablonski, MSC

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart USA Province305 S. Lake Street, PO Box 270 Aurora, IL 60507 (630) 892-2371 info@misacor-usa.org

Today’sreadings seemto be prettyobviousespecially sinceJesus himselfexplains theparable.

So then, do we justsit back and thinkabout how plantsgrow?

I don’t think so.

If anything,today’s readingsare trying to getus out of ourheads in order todo somethingreal in our lives.

If I just do ananalysis of whatkind of soil I amand then moveon with some goodintentions,probably nothingwill change in mylife.

Although we all agree that rain and snow aregood for the ground,

we usually we try to avoid them and stayindoors.

Getting wet is uncomfortable.

God’s wordis not tomake uscomfortableandcomplacent

but rather to stir up in us new life.

Dirt by its nature is messy, not bad, just like our lives.

Working to clear out impurities and weeds andgive nutrients and air to dirt make it good soil.

Words like:–uprooting, –sifting,–moving around &–displacing

sound good for soilbut again,discomforting ifapplied to our lives.

Seeds have to be buried in the dark of thesoil and give-up everything to become onewith it in order to sprout new life.

Entering into the darkness of our lives andquietly waiting there to be one with God whoturns darkness into light and death into life isvery discomforting and scary.

Any mother will tellyou about givingbirth anddiscomfort.

Moving out of mycomfort zone to allowthe seed of God’sword to grow is thechallenge of today’sreadings.

Let’s try to DO somethingdifferent todaythat is not comforting butdoes encouragelife…new life.

© mipan – Fotalia.com

We are called to bemore than a pottedplant in a secureenvironment.

We are called to grow in the wilds of lifebut deeply rooted in God.

Photo Credits• Slide 1: Fresh Grass, by Petr Kratochvil via PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 2: Hermanoleon Clipart• Slide 3: Yucca Plant, by Petr Kratochvil via PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 4: Socrates and Plato, via Wikimedia Commons• Slide 5: Soil, by By Mesaytsegaye (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons• Slide 6: Rain drops on Grass, by Michele Walters via

PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 7: Rain On Window 2, by Mikaela Dunn, via PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 8: Animals Wet Dog, by Michele Walters, via PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 9: Cushions, by Shiftchange from Wikimedia Commons• Slide 10: Photo by Brother Joe Tesar, MSC, member of the Missionaries of

the Sacred Heart, United States Province• Slide 11: Soil Texture, by Petr Kratochvil via PublicDomainPictures.net

Photo Credits• Slide 12: Photo by Brother Joe Tesar, MSC, member of the Missionaries of

the Sacred Heart, United States Province• Slide 13: Soil, by By Mesaytsegaye (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons• Slide 14: Sunflower Seed, by Anna Cervova via PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 15: Brown Background, by Sharon Apted via

PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 16: Mother Kissing Baby by DaydreamsGirl via istockphoto.com• Slide 17: Sprouting, by Peter Griffin via PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 18: Pushing out of hands, © Sveta via istockphoto.com• Slide 19: © mipan – Fotalia.com• Slide 20: Tiny Plant, by Jean Sander via PublicDomainPictures.net• Slide 21: Wildflowers, by David Wagner via PublicDomainPictures.net• Slides 22 and 23: Fresh Spring Background, by Peter Kratochvil via

PublicDomainPictures.net