After delivering the parable of the sower to the crowds, the disciples approach the Lord and ask Him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He said to them in reply, "To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
Here's a principle about making good use of the gifts and graces and truths given to us by God. Use them, or lose them. This principle is repeated Parable of the Talents, right? One person is given five talents, another two, and another one talent, and the one with five he invests them, he uses them, he doubles them, and he’s praised. The one with two talents invests his two, he uses them, he doubles them, and he’s praised. But the one with one, does nothing with his talent, and he’s rebuked, and his talent is taken away.
“To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.” Use it, or lose it.
God gives us light, he gives us Truth, he gives us talents, he gives us time, he gives us gifts, he gives us opportunities, and inspirations. And what we do with these graces makes all the difference.
This spiritual principle underlies the Parable of the Sower. The seed of God is sown in our midst—the Word of God is preached to us. What do you do with it? If you allow it to grow, it will flourish into spiritual gifts. If you squander it, you lose an opportunity for life. And when the human will turns away from grace, it becomes harder to respond to in the future.
This is a very important law of grace. Respond to God’s grace and you’ll receive more. God loves to dispense grace. Grace attracts grace. We see this in the lives of the saints. St. Paul, has an initial conversion. And as he begins to give his life over to Christ more and more, he begins attracting other souls to Christ, he offers his life to Christ as a living sacrifice, and he begins converting towns.
Or think of mystics like St. Theresa of Avila. They respond to the grace of a simple call to a dedicated life of prayer. And as they keep responding, they grow deeper in prayer, their prayer becomes more efficacious. The Lord bestows upon them great graces that show the world the power of prayer. St. Theresa of Avila would levitate. She would literally begin to float, and hover as she prayed.
Padre Pio would bilocate. Saint John Vianney could read the hearts of his penitents. St. Benedict raised and healed a boy who had been mangled and killed—crushed to death by a stone wall.
There are numerous stories of extraordinary miracles from the lives of the saints, all which the Lord himself foretold. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.
Some of the saints were so full of grace that even after bodily death, their bodies remain incorrupt centuries after their death. There is a holy Benedictine nun in Gower, Missouri Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster who died four years ago, and he body has been found to be incorrupt—now four years after she died, not having been embalmed and buried in a cracked wooden coffin—which would normally hasted the decaying process—her body remains incorrupt as well as her religious habit.
The saints show us: respond to grace and you will grow in grace and spiritual gifts. Through prayer, works, mortification, and the sacraments, grace builds upon grace to the point where the saints life becomes illuminated by God and a beacon of God for others.
And, you know, don’t you? That this is what God wants you for you? He wants his grace to become so evident, his light so brilliant in you, that your life radiates his presence. But just like the saints, growth in grace takes work.
Which is why the Lord uses all of these agricultural images. Farming, growing crops, it’s hard work. If you are a farmer, and you neglect the hard work necessary to cultivate your field and your crop, your family will starve. Is the world starving for God because Christians aren’t doing the hard work? Perhaps.
The Lord speaks of two reasons in the parable—two specific reasons— why the life of the Word is choked out in us. First, he speaks of “worldly anxiety”. Worldly anxiety is one reason why we lack spiritual fruitfulness. In the Greek, worldly anxiety is “he merimne tou aionas, literally it means the anxiety of the present age. The worries associated with living in 2023 choke out the life of God in us. And there are a lot of worries associated with this present life: unemployment, nuclear proliferation, terrorist states, elections, censorship of free speech, wars, epidemics, government corruption, crime, failing education systems, and the list goes on.
But what does the Lord say over and over in the Gospel “do not be afraid”, “do not worry”, “do not have anxiety”. Anxiety over the present age chokes out divine life in us. In fact, “Do not worry” is a direct commandment of Jesus, not just a suggestion. And when we worry, when we fail to turn away our worries and give our worries to Jesus, aren’t we venturing into the territory of disobedience?
Church, many of us are spending much too much time and energy on things that increase our anxiety. There are news outlets on TV and the internet that are designed to keep you addicted to the steady flow of anxiety inducing media. Some of us are anxiety addicts, and it’s choking out divine life in some of us. Worry that keeps you from engaging in generous work of charity, worry that keeps you from reconciling with an enemy, worry that keeps you from living more for God—is keeping you from life.
The second thing that chokes out divine life, the Lord says is the “lure of riches”—he apate tou ploutou—the deceitfulness of riches. There are many of us, as well, who believe more stuff will make us happy. Seeking happiness in the riches of the world is also disobedience for the Lord says “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”
Divine life is choked from us when we become absorbed by the pursuit of wealth, and addicted to worldly pursuits like entertainment, video games, sports, and hobbies. These things are not bad in themselves. But…you’ve got to admit, you are likely less holy than you could have been, if these things had been moderated a bit more.
Riches, ploutou in the Greek, is from the name Pluto—who was the God of Riches and also the God of Death. Even the Greeks and Romans knew: the unreasonable pursuit of riches leads to death.
Rather, Our God, the One True God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, loves life. And, he tells us what we must do in order to obtain life.
Read the Word of God every day, pray every day, don’t let the worries and things of the world keep you from the opportunities for grace that God wants for you, that you may become illumined by him for His glory and the salvation of souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment