What Seeds am I Planting?

Pastor’s Column

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 16, 2024

     The smallest seeds we can plant might turn into large trees by the grace of God. One example of this around here is the adoration chapel. It is incredible that people are praying here almost 24 hours a day. At one time we had adoration for two hours once a month with poor attendance. Then we planted a seed (first suggested by the pastoral council) that we have a mission to plug adoration. The priest that came agreed only of we would consider perpetual adoration, something I thought impossible given the above, yet 8 weeks later we were up and running.

     That small seed led us to building a new church. As more and more people asked for a permanent chapel, we started a master plan for the campus that led to our present sanctuary. One blessing of the new building is that everyone who wants to visit us at Christmas and Easter can actually get into the building (imagine that), and some of you have stayed and become part of our community, and we owe much of that to the small seeds planted in faith so many years ago now. And, not coincidentally, the first three walls put up in this church were the adoration chapel.  

      I sometimes have occasion to walk over to the office at odd hours and almost always there is a car parked there. How many blessings God has given us by planting a few seeds, and what blessings for you if you decide to start giving the Lord an hour a week in that large tree God planted here for us. It's neither liberal nor conservative. It is just the Lord, and he has blessings waiting for you there.

      What kind of seeds am I planting each day? Are they seeds of kindness or selfishness? Seeds of purity or impurity? What seeds does God wish to plant in your soul or life? Your whole future may depend on the planting of some seed of conversion or on a small act of goodness in someone else's life. It will only be at the last judgment that we will fully see the effects of what we have done, and the Lord makes it very clear that small things matter a very great deal. How I treat other people is absolutely essential. One can only imagine what trees there may be of you and others if only you allow the Holy Spirit to plant the seeds now.

     Be careful what you plant in the ground. For example, if I am planting pornography, I am going to have a big tree of impurity and anger and passions I cannot control, and quite possibly a broken marriage. If I am planting seeds of unkindness, I may end up with a worthless tree of selfishness that is all about me, and worthless to God or anyone else. But now that we know what God wants, how easy it is to plant a garden that we will be proud to present to the Lord on the last day of our life, a garden that will outlast us and that will benefit others long after we have moved on. What seeds will I be planting?  What kind of tree will it be?     

Father Gary