It’s Not Really You
“The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever.”—Verse before the Gospel Acclamation
I do not know about you, but sometimes when I see someone who I care about seem to fall away from the faith or are no longer practicing, I feel as if I did not do enough. Maybe if I shared more about my experience, they would have stayed with the faith. Oftentimes I tell people (and myself!) that we are only sowing seeds and sometimes we do not get to see the growth and fruit from those seeds. By evangelizing and telling others about how God has impacted our lives we are sowing seeds — on all types of soil (see the “Parable of the Sower”). So naturally we think of ourselves as the sower of these seeds. However, if we really think about it, Jesus is really the True Sower of those seeds. We are only instruments of the Sower. So, when we sow these seeds, it is really Christ sowing them through us. All that we do and say ought to reflect Christ and His love. Do they?
St. Paul tells us that it is no longer he that lives but rather it is Christ who lives in him. This is also true for us by virtue of our baptism. It is Christ who lives in us. It is Christ who comforts when we comfort those who are mourning. It is Christ who shows kindness when we show kindness to the homeless and the stranger. Will we allow Jesus to work through us? He will not barge into our lives and hijack our wills and intellects. He respects us and our wills. He will only come into our hearts if we invite Him to. We do not have to, but I can promise you that life will be much better, more rewarding and fulfilling, more filled with joy and peace is we do.
It it Christ who sow seeds through us. What kinds of seeds will we sow? How will we sow them? Will those whom we come to encounter see us or will they see Christ? Only One can give them eternal life, and it is certainly not us.
