top

Pastoral Message – June 16, 2024

Pastoral Message – June 16, 2024

In the long-ago years of my youth, I was quite the gardener. Every summer, my days were filled with the work of digging, planting, watering, weeding, and (eventually) harvesting all kinds of vegetables. There were also many flower gardens that demanded my attention.

In this context, you will not be surprised to learn that I spent a lot of time in the early Spring pouring through a seed catalog. Every year we got a large catalog from a place called Gurney’s Seed and Nursery Company. In those days there were no personal computers or internet (do I sound old yet?), so I waited for the catalog to arrive through “snail mail.” The catalog was fascinating: filled with colorful pictures of countless vegetables and flowers, accompanied by enthusiastic descriptions of the plants you could grow.

By the way, Gurney’s is still around. They have a vast website now, filled with the same kinds of pictures and descriptions I remember from my youth. (And yes, you can still get a printed catalog through snail mail.)

Reading through that catalog, and then spending so much time in numerous gardens, equipped me well to understand Jesus’ words in the Gospel passage we will hear this weekend: “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

Gardening taught me some important truths about the kingdom of God:

  • It is composed of living creatures, not inanimate objects.
  • It requires a lot of hard work.
  • The actual growth is not achieved by the gardener.
  • Its quality is measured by the fruit it bears.

Promoting the growth of the kingdom of God must take place within us and around us. It starts with something small, which will grow into something big. The growth takes time as well as work; and the growth does not come directly from us, but from the Lord.

My friends, it’s growing season! Let’s roll up our sleeves and put on tough gardening shoes; let’s take up the proper tools and implements and get to work. And then let’s be patient as God provides the growth.

The harvest will be eternal life.

Blessings,
Fr. Philip

Where to find us

Chapel

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur elit sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt.
a

Error: Contact form not found.