“Whoever
has ears ought to hear.”
A
twist on that saying today could be, “Read my lips!”
In
his parables about the kingdom of heaven, Christ tells us how the kingdom comes about
among us now and how it shall come in its fullness at the end of time.
Today
in his Gospel he tells a parable about seed that is the word of the kingdom
sown upon the soil of our human hearts.
Each
of us does best to make ready a heart of deep, rich soil, clearing it of weeds
and rocks, so that the word of the kingdom can bear fruit in us “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” as he says.
Let
us note that the sowing of the seed that is the word of the kingdom is a work
God in his graciousness does for us.
However,
we can and must do the work of readying the soil of our hearts so that it is
deep, rich, and free of weeds and rocks.
The
work of getting ready is something anyone, even a pagan, can do without the
grace of God.
The
Church calls that the work of the natural or human virtues. [See 1804 in the Catechism of the CatholicChurch.]
Without
working these natural, human virtues, we fail to be ready to work with the
supernatural virtues that come from God in his graciousness; we are not doing
our part wholeheartedly, even though God does his.
We
might take part regularly in Mass and the sacrament of Penance, we might pray
regularly, and daily read Scripture and our lives alongside each other, but
find ourselves in a spiritual rut.
If
that is the lay of the land for us, then we do well to look at the nature of
our land, the soil of our lives.
Do
we know what the natural, human virtues are that clear out the weeds, the
rocks, and ready us to be deep rich soil?
Four
of the natural, human virtues make up the key, the heart, the kernel, the
marrow, or the hinge— crucial, pivotal, cardinal.
The
four are Prudence, Justice, Courage or Fortitude, and Self-Control or
Temperance.
Those
are the “Cardinal Virtues”— natural and human, and anyone can work them, even a
pagan who knows nothing of the Word of God, the Church, or baptism.
We
who are baptized in Christ can ask ourselves if we do what even a good pagan
can do.
If
we do not, then we are wasting the graciousness of God, even here in the
Eucharist.
Read
God’s lips!
“Whoever
has ears ought to hear.”
Turn.
Love. Repeat.
