“Christ sowed the seed of salvation in humanity in order that it might grow especially in each individual soul.”
— St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Recently I was called by a friend to see if I could visit a doctor (age 77) who is in the intensive care in a hospital in Pittsburgh. Before I entered that intensive care cubicle, I had to don a yellow gown and put on blue rubber gloves and I could see by the expression on the man’s face that he was delighted to see me! Since he was intubated (a tube in his throat), he was unable to speak. He had a clipboard with paper and a pencil attached to it to express his thoughts in writing. I said to the semi-retired doctor, “It’s a lot easier being a doctor than being a patient, isn’t it, Doc?” He shook his head in agreement. The first words he wrote in his tablet were, “Fr. Jones, the word-smith.” I was coming to console him and he shared a kind word with me.
When I returned home to the rectory, I looked up in Webster’s Dictionary “word-smith”. It states, “A professional writer who uses language skillfully. A person who coins new words.” Sometimes we can underestimate the potency and the efficacy of the power of words — a word of encouragement, a word of appreciation, a word of gratitude, a word of forgiveness, a word of love. One word can convert a sinner. One word can make a grace-filled day. One word can bring hope where there is no apparent solution. The visit to this doctor made me want to be a greater artisan of the spoken words, written words and lived words that I communicate as a herald of the Gospel.
The prophet Isaiah says in 50: 4, “The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear.” The prophet Isaiah further explains the life-giving movement of God’s Word when he writes 55: 10-11, “For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats — so shall my Word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void but should do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” Thus just as rain and snow have a purpose, to water the earth so that crops will grow and produce fruit, the Lord’s Word has a purpose — to do God’s will, bringing life to those who hear it. The American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) wrote, “A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.”
I was happy to receive an e-mail from parents who informed me that their son whom I baptized 18 years ago has been accepted to enter St. Paul’s Seminary. I was delighted to hear their son is discerning a vocation to the priesthood. The word “seminary” means a “seed-plot, nursery, a place where something develops and grows. A place where persons are trained to become priests, ministers or rabbis.” We must cultivate the gardens that are entrusted to our care whether these gardens are family, parish, work or community.
Before leaving for her vacation, our organist Ginny Ambrose reminded the staff, “Don’t forget to water the flowers and gardens around the rectory while I’m away.” As Ginny is a harbinger of growth of our landscapes, she did not want me to be deficient in my responsibility in taking care of Mother Nature, especially in these humid and hot summer weeks.
As I was walking around the parish grounds with a couple who will be married next July, we witnessed a lady pulling weeds from the stones around the courtyard near St. Joseph’s statue. She told me that she was a parishioner and that she was 96 years old. She said, “Father, I love my church, I love St. Joseph’s and I love my priests.” And I responded, “Your church loves you, St. Joseph loves you and your priest loves you. Thank you for picking the weeds and doing such a beautiful job.” She then informed me, “At age 96 if you don’t keep moving, you don’t move.” This was good therapy for her and she enjoyed tending to the parish grounds. St. Julian of Norwich wrote, “The power of the Lord’s Word enters the soul and enlivens the heart and makes us rejoice in the Lord.”
We have been hearing for several weeks that the Word of God is to the human heart what the seed is to Mother Earth. God’s Word is always a life-giving word, never a negative word. The seed of God’s Word once dropped into the human heart never dies. And it is never too late or one is never too old to act on the Word of God. Just as food nourishes the body, so the Word of God nourishes the mind, the heart, the will and the spirit. God speaks to us in the most hidden part of our being. Growing in wisdom, age and grace is the work of a lifetime. God wants our faith to grow and progress. As I encountered this 96 year-old parishioner, she inspired me by sharing in a simple way her great love of God, church and parish family. We witness to our faith by simply living our faith through good actions and virtuous deeds. When we share our faith with others, ours increases. And we describe how God is working in our lives. God has blessed us, God heals us and God rescues us over the years of our journey. And we invite others to experience His saving love, by walking humbly with one another as companions on the journey.
There are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world today and we are indebted to those first disciples for handing on the faith so that each subsequent generation can receive it and share it. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston wrote in his Pentecost homily, “Evangelization always seeks to propose our faith, never to impose it.” We have the mission to repair the world by living and sharing the Gospel which will transform the culture and the society in which we live. The seed is the Word of God; the sower is Christ; all who listen to His word will live forever. I recently attended a priest-friend’s 90 year old mother’s funeral in Canonsburg. The couple would have been married 69 years in August. The woman’s priest-son looked at her beautiful, gnarled, arthritic hands and the bunions on her feet and kissed them for the nine decades that she sowed faith with the gift of her hands and the foot-path she traveled. Her son sang the Ave Maria at Communion in thanksgiving to God for the blessing of his mother. Whether age 77, 18, 96 or 90, may we sow God’s seeds of grace in every age.
