A Meditation for our fifteenth week of Ordinary Time in 2026

There is a wistful stirring within me every time I hear Jesus tell one of His parables. They invite me to examine my heart and my life with the hope that I’ll find myself in the group He is praising. Or, at least not in one of the groups that He is using as an example of poor behavior or missing out on what God is doing. In the Parable of the Sower, there are seeds being cast about. I long to be one of those who was cast into good soil. My heart starts searching and inspecting into which of these four categories I might fit. 

The first seeds, cast about the path, were quickly snatched away. Maybe this was true earlier in my life. There were nearly two decades of my life before I took my faith seriously. I attended church and lived in a culture and time with Christianity as the default. I heard many true things about the Kingdom that flickered and faded from thought. Yet, in the mercy of God, whose love continued to pursue me, I did come into the faith I have now. My life of faith has endured for decades at this point. These decades make me think that I probably am, no longer, one of those seeds cast upon the path.

The second seed was sown amongst the rocks. For most of my life of faith, I have grown in spurts, kind of like faith growth spurts. There are times that crisis drove me to grow. There were times when the passion of people I was in community with invited and inspired me to grow. There have also been times when life was harder, busier, and I lacked the attention or care to grow. When I get to watch flowers and plants grow, I am often surprised that first day when the soil is broken through. 

It feels like so much happens so quickly! As the stalks stretch and reach for the sun, they seem to climb ladders I cannot see. Then, as if by design, they all reach their height and stop. All that is truly supporting them is the earth and their roots. Weaving parts of themselves through the unseen depths allows for the illusion that they simply reach and stretch into the heavens. By the mercy of God, I have seen myself endure difficult seasons that challenged my faith. The tender love of God has journeyed with me as understandings of myself and of Jesus shifted and grown deeper. One of the great innovations in agriculture has been drought-resistant crops. As my faith has deepened, it feels like God helped me move into a more drought-resistant faith for the dry and difficult seasons that will come again. This is why our emphasis on rhythms and simplicity is so important for my monastic life.

The third seeds fell onto soil but were crowded out by thorns. Jesus tells us these thorns are the lure of wealth and the cares of the world that choke off the seeds. That the desire for wealth and the cares of the world keep followers fruitless for what matters to Jesus. There have been times that the cares of the world have felt like they have had strangleholds on me. In those times I have not been fruitful. It wasn’t that I was choosing to focus on worldly things. It was those real, tangible things that demanded my attention in hard and overwhelming seasons. In some ways I find myself here now, but I’m doing my best to show up and rise through the thorns to the warmth of the sun. I deeply struggle with if I may be cast among the thorns, and I wonder if Jesus wants us to be wrestling with this.

The last group of seeds lands upon the good soil. I feel envy for these seeds. Who are these people that hear about the Kingdom, understand it, and then the difficulties of life don’t get in the way of their fruitfulness? I know of people who present this image to the world. They each do this as a way to claim God’s favor over their life and ministry. Yet, there is difficulty in their lives, and a couple of them deeply long for wealth and power (as they wield it against those that disagree with them or who might cast a shadow over their stature).

There is a desire that Jesus creates in the telling of this parable to be fruitful. I want to create a hundredfold the fruit that it has taken to form me. Yet, to get there, I need to meditate upon the Kingdom that Jesus tells us about (first seeds). I then need to spend time growing in my understanding and embodiment of this faith (second seeds) that I might grow deep enough to endure my climb towards the light of the sun. I then need to trust in faith that the kingdom is worth more than all the wealth and cares of this world (third seed).

As I live by faith through these places, I learn what is needed to endure, to grow, and to bear fruit. It feels like I have been each of these kinds of seeds. What I learned in each place has formed me and become a part of my faith. Without the work of each place, I wouldn’t have been prepared for the next. Each place helps me to turn from myself towards God in new ways. The Apostle Paul wrote similarly in Romans that “to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” The steady-looking walk towards the Kingdom with Jesus has neither felt steady nor assured. Except that Jesus was always near, His love never wavering, and His peace gives me life as I hope in what remains unseen.

May the unwavering love of Jesus help you to grow in your life of faith.

Readings for the 15^th Sunday of Ordinary Time · Year A

Sunday readings according to the Revised Common Lectionary.

Photo Credit
Paul Prins on 9 June 2021 in Lyon, France