The Carefree Gardener

 The gardening analogy has carried on for another week. This touches on the task of what we consider to be a weed and what we consider to be a plant that we want to flourish. The story about harvesting the darnel and the wheat reminds me of how many exotic species that are appropriate in their own environment grow with abandon in an Australian environment. I am very much aware of how Lantana produces a really pretty flower from native Latin America that smothers the native grasses in Australia. Similarly, Eucalyptus can be considered a weed outside its native environment. This reflection helps us to see what may be a beautiful plant for one person that may be considered a noxious weed when it grows outside its native environment.

No wonder God is so tolerant of weeds in a world that has shrunk due to the prevalence of world travel and the biosecurity measures that we experience in Australia to keep our native environment safe. Yet this is more than just the spread of exotic species but also how ideas and behaviors can be viewed with favor or disdain. Each of us will have noticed how many attitudes can shift about what is considered a virtue and what is considered a vice. It seems that we are in constant flux about what is acceptable about human behavior and what is not. No wonder so many people are confused about how to live a spiritual life in accord with the person of Christ.

I believe that at the heart of the Gospel for this weekend is the call for compassion for the person but not for the sin. By recognizing that our lives can be beset by problems and difficulties we need to notice our own weakness and keep turning back to God in reconciliation. As Paul discovered there is the paradox of discovering how he needs to keep praying with his whole self that transcended words. It was this prayer that allowed us to embody what is in the mind of God for the good of the person and the good of the community. 

We can be thankful that God is mild in judgment which helps us to be kind in our approach to others. As we can see this stands in contrast to the focused outrage that we see too often in our daily news where the spotlight shifts rapidly from one sinful act to another calling us to take a stand. Rather God sees to the heart of the person and seeks what is needed to win that person's salvation. This may be an important lesson for us in an age when everything seems to be turned on its head and what is valued can often seem counterfeit and vice versa. It calls us to be people who pray, reflect on our environment, and act in a way that allows God to draw us closer. This is not so much pondering our sins as allowing God's grace to draw us closer as missionary disciples even in a time of great confusion.

The Careless Gardener

 I am not much of a gardener but I try my best to try and ensure that what I plant has the best chance to grow and flourish. Thus I am careful in what I purchase, make sure that the ground is prepared, and that I water and fertilize the plant. However, this is not the image that is presented in the Gospel. In this, the gardener keeps sowing the seed regardless of whether it will grow in the environment in which it will land. This seems to be a paradox because you would think that God knows where the seed has the best chance to grow. Yet what we notice is that in some way we have to play our part in being able to receive the word into our hearts. That means that we not only hear it but also have to create an environment in which it can be heard.

This is often difficult in our modern environment when there is a tsunami of words and we do not know how to sift what brings life and what distracts us from trying to live in a way that is alien to us. I believe this is why we need periods of silent meditation with scripture where we allow the word to filter more deeply into us. In Lectio Divina we first hear the word so that we can notice what grabs our attention, we read it a second time to see what moves us to pay attention to our own feelings, and we read it a third time to notice where it addresses aspects of our own life and then we have time for it to settle more deeply inside us and take root.

In this way, the word becomes at one with our thinking, our feeling, and our acting. We become at one with the word as part of mind, body, and spirit. In slowing down we allow God's word the best chance to take a hold of us and become firmly planted in who we seek to become.

My yoke is easy my burden is light

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” This quote from Teilhard de Chardin causes us to ponder more deeply what it is that we labor at and why. Often the call is to recognize that it is God who labors with us in our daily life rather than trying to meet a benchmark where we will encounter God.  This emphasis on encountering God becomes as natural as breathing and seeks to guide us on what becomes the focus of our life.

Too often we measure our success by being able to make decisions for ourselves, by appearing important in the eyes of another, or even how much we own. Yet we are called to recognize that it is in this homing experience of God that we encounter ourselves. It allows us to work for an eternal home through the priorities that are expressed in daily life. We do this as embodied people, not as disembodied spirits. We experience in our own bodies the reality of God coming truly alive. It helps us to be stewards of creation and brothers and sisters to each other. 

This sharing of our life for the good of God, the good of others, and the good of ourselves is at the heart of the teaching of Jesus. He desires for us to experience and live out this reality. This is how we come into communion with God and each other. That God journeys with us even when we encounter difficulties. He opens our hearts and minds to live with God.