Reflection on Mass readings for June 16 (11th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Mark 4:26-34
One of my fondest memories growing up was when my parents would pack all six of us kids in our blue Suburban and drive us to our great-aunt and great-uncle’s farm in Midwest City, Oklahoma.
As my parents would pull into the gravel driveway surrounded by large pine trees and brush that sloped down to the small farmhouse at the other end, they always made it a point to stop so that all of us could get out and “run down the hill.”
The farmhouse sat on many acres of land, purchased by my great-grandfather right before the United States entered World War I in 1917. There, he raised my grandfather and his three other children, who helped him plot a one-acre garden directly across from the red-roofed barn and small chicken house occupied by cows, horses, and chickens.
My great-aunt and great-uncle continued with the upkeep of the farm, which my grandfather, who joined the military at the onset of World War II, often frequented, taking with him his daughter – my mother – where she spent many of her summers. In turn, she and my father would take us for weeks on end to the beloved farm, where we would spend our mornings at work, afternoons at play, and evenings at rest.
I still remember rising at the sound of the rooster’s call, dressing in my jeans and long-sleeved shirt, eating a breakfast of eggs and oatmeal that my great-aunt had prepared, and working in the garden for a few hours in order to beat the summer heat of Oklahoma.
I still recall being on my hands and knees as I dug through the red soil, feeling around for the potatoes that had grown since my uncle’s planting months earlier.
As I worked, I would often wonder how the potatoes grew once they were in the soil. It seemed to me that all my uncle did after he planted was wait. Then, by a miracle of nature, the potatoes would appear and be ready for gathering.
One of the most crucial steps of this work, which I realized even then, involved waiting. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I realize now as I recall those youthful years that the Lord was teaching me something critical to the life of faith. That is, that my life is his garden, and that the science of waiting is often crucial to its growth.
In our readings for this Sunday, we can see how the aspect of planting, waiting, and flourishing teaches an implicit lesson on faith through the “work” of waiting. But for those of us who have literally worked the land, we can identify almost immediately that there is a kind of digging required as we read these passages.
When faith is given to us through the gift of our baptism, we “completely submit our intellect and will to God” (CCC 143). The seed of faith does not remain stagnant – rather, it is a continual entrustment of oneself to God through all circumstances.
This kind of waiting is necessary for our life of faith because it demands a response – it is not within our control to make the seed of faith sprout with immediacy.
Our response of faith entails our deliberate choice and even obedience to believe that the God of the universe – who has revealed himself through Jesus Christ – is altogether good and wills our good, even when circumstances surrounding us look anything but good.
When speaking of faith in this sense, St. Thomas Aquinas points out that our will takes precedence over our reason by commanding it to believe.
Put another way, we must choose to believe in the goodness of God amid all our circumstances, even if it cannot be seen how they will turn out. Because we are unable to believe by ourselves, God gives us the help of the Holy Spirit who “aids us in our weakness” and who gives us the “realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1).
The “waiting” you may currently be finding yourself in, no matter the season of life at hand, may be cultivating a seed, even if it is as small and seemingly insignificant as a mustard seed. You may be tempted to abandon the garden because you are unaware of what God already did before he invited you to come be a part of what he himself planted.
But “be stouthearted and wait for the Lord,” as the Psalmist exhorts us (Ps 27:14), and your faith, which is often cultivated through waiting, will not be disappointed.
Sister Mary Josephine, O.P., joined the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in 2008. She currently serves at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Newport News, teaching middle school theology.