Let It Rain

Let It Rain – 15^th Week in Ordinary Time

Mount of the Beatitudes

One day a boy was walking along the seashore and came upon thousands of starfish that had washed ashore by the tide.  Knowing that they would die unless returned to the water, the boy calmly walked along and began tossing starfish back into the ocean.  An old man saw the boy and came up to him to say, “Boy, you can’t possibly save all the starfish.  Why bother?  What does it matter?”  The boy picked up another starfish, tossed it into the ocean, and replied, “It matters to that one.”  Today’s readings ask us to reflect upon the word of God and its effect in our lives.

In the first reading today we find the prophetic message of Isaiah providing us with an incredible message of hope.  God’s word comes down to earth like the rainfall, and it will achieve the end for which it is sent.  What is that end?  It is the salvation of the entire human race.  God wills and desires that every single person will find salvation in Him.  What is more, God works untiringly in each person’s life in order to help achieve the salvation God desires for us.

However, there is one item in the universe that the omnipotent God cannot control, and that is the free will of human persons.  God gave us this free will because our love is the most important gift we can give to God.  If our wills were not free we could not freely love and thus the gift we offer to God would be something other than a gift freely given.  This freedom also means that we have the ability to choose against God and to reject His love for us.  Radical freedom means that we have the consequence of evil that arises from the misuse of our human choice. 

Herein we find the understanding we need to have of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel text today.  God freely gives generously and abundantly the seed – the word of God – in the soil of our lives.  The condition of our soil is not predetermined, but rather it is the result of how we have cared for that soil of our lives.  Is our soil fertile and open to God’s will, or is it shallow or thorny or some other condition that we have created preventing God’s word from taking hold in our lives?

We often blame God for our lack of sanctity and peace, but if we stop to examine our lives more closely we realize that we ourselves made this soil of our lives the way in which it is.  Yes, bad things to happen to us that come from outside of ourselves.  Other people perform wicked deeds to us that cause us great harm and pain.  We do, however, have a choice in how we respond to the evil done to us by others.  We cannot allow the bad soil of another’s life affect our own soil. 

If we realize that our soil is not what it should be, we have recourse to God, the master of the vineyard, who can cleanse our soil and work with us to make it fertile ground again for His word to take root in our lives.  We are not predestined to having bad soil; we cannot be content with the condition of our soil if it be less than what it ought to be.  Tools and resources exist for us to cultivate our soil to make it a flourishing garden. 

Like the boy in the story of the starfish, we cannot despair of the magnitude of the project.  Instead, we must go about our lives doing whatever good we are able, knowing that it does matter to those with whom we come in contact.  We cannot allow the pessimism of others to detract us from the fundamental mission we have in caring for others and providing good soil for ourselves and for others.  The boy stayed true to his mission and helped as many starfish as he could.  We can do no less as we live out the calling God has for each of us, realizing that while the boy could not save every starfish, God can save every human soul – whether it be in this present life or in the life to come.  Purgatory is a reality of our faith, and how it works is known only to God.  It may be that a great many people are there at God’s will finding salvation that both we and they thought not possible.

As we gather once again to seek nourishment in our Christian mission, we pray for the ongoing strength we need in cultivating our soil and being faithful to our mission of service to others.  “Father, let the light of your truth guide us to your kingdom through a world filled with lights contrary to your own.  Christian is the name and the gospel we glory in.  May your love make us what you have called us to be.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.”