It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.
May we be good soil.
May we allow the word deep with in us. It can't be superficial. It can't just impact on the surface. If it doesn't go deep and change who we are in the core of our inmost being the it will be eaten by the birds of worldly concerns.
May we not be rocky soil. May we not have hard hearts when we hear his voice (cf. Psa. 95:7). May our stony hearts be replaced with hearts of flesh (cf. Eze. 36:26). Hearts that are hard don't let the word grow deeply. Hard hearts might allow the word to enter only piecemeal, only parts that suit them, that affirm them, or that require less of them.
May we not be scorched by the sun. We need to go deep to be nourished in a way that can sustain us no matter the weather and changing seasons of circumstance. Shallow growth may seem easier. But it cannot sustain us. The word of God can sustain us no matter the season, if we just give it room to grow within us.
Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing (cf. Eze. 47:12).
May we stay away from the thorns. Weeds and wheat grow together, it is true. They can't be separated without damaging both (cf. Mat. 13:29-30). But thorns are another story. If we are being torn down by the sin around us we need to be transplanted. We need to move more completely from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light (cf. Col. 1:13). This can mean moving away from "thorny" people. We don't want to abandon anyone. But if people our putting our own spiritual life at risk this danger cannot be ignored. Thorns might make us think of annoyances, grievances, and other difficulties in getting along with people but they are not. Actually, thorns are temptations. These and these alone can put our spiritual life at risk. They often cut rather painlessly. But the damage the do is real.
So let us be rich soil, as Thomas Aquinas is. May he be an example to us of just how deeply the word is meant to go. In Thomas, the word shades every aspect of how he views the world. It shapes his scientific and philosophical ideas as well as his theological ones. It shapes his concerns from the most practical to the most abstract.
He is consecrated by the one offering of Jesus just as we are meant to be. He is now perfected forever in heaven, just as we are meant to be. God writes his law on the heart of Saint Thomas Aquinas. It is now a testament to us. It shows us what he wants to do in each and every heart where he finds room.
This is the covenant I will establish with them
after those days, says the Lord:
"I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them upon their minds,"
So then, let us give him room. That is the whole secret, today. It is the secret of Thomas who counts everything he writes as straw compared to knowing Jesus. We see it when God asks him how he wants to be rewarded for writing so well of him. He answers, "Nil nisi te, Domine": "Lord, nothing but yourself." May this be our answer, too.
The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool."
We must start by sitting at his feet. Only then we can share in the victory his word is meant to bring us. When we give him room thorns and birds and shallow soil won't prevent our growth. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (cf. Rom. 8:37).
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