A few weeks ago, I was called by some old family friends to the hospital in Markham, Ontario to anoint one of their relatives who was dying. As it had been several years since I had last visited my old home town, I decided to drive by the home that I had grown up in and where my family had lived from 1972 to 1992. I could not help but notice in front of the home a beautiful huge Maple tree that was starting to get all its leaves as Spring was advancing. The tree was a huge, beautiful healthy tree that cast shade over the entire front yard of the house. I remembered that tree because I had planted it there with my father almost fifty years ago. It had been my job to water that tree and to help it take root. There were actually a few weeks when it was first planted that I was not convinced that it was going to survive; partially because I may not have watered it as regularly as I should have and the hot summer weather threatened not to allow it to take root properly. The tree had obviously survived those early challenges and was now a thriving and well rooted tree, like one of those that we hear Jesus speaking of in today’s Gospel.
The readings this Sunday speak of the mysterious growth that takes place in plants, and the way in which without knowing how, those small seeds that are placed in a garden can grow into huge and beautiful plants that support others and give life to many around them. The first reading this Sunday from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel speaks about how God will take a small sprig from a cedar tree, and with His help, it will mysteriously become a great tree. In the Gospel, Jesus begins by speaking of a garden that grows mysteriously while the owner sleeps. The owner is not able to understand how it grows. It is all done mysteriously by God. In the second part of the Gospel story, Jesus also speaks of a small mustard seed that will grow into a huge tree that will support the birds of the air and that will protect many with its shade. All of these images are used by Jesus to speak of the way in which the faith life grows in each one of us. It always starts small, and yet somehow in ways we never understand, it can grow and become a reality that supports and gives life to many.
I am not sure if you are like me, but when I think of “holy people,” I tend to think of the finished product—those people that we see in the stained-glass windows and art of the Church. We do not often think of the very long and slow journey that these women and men took on the road to holiness. And yet, as I think about this week’s readings, it reminds me of the many spiritual biographies that I have read that have articulated the long journey that many saints have made to holiness. I think the most famous example of this kind of a journey might be that which was written by St. Augustine of Hippo around 400 A.D.. St. Augustine, like so many of the other saints of the Church, worked over many years to give Himself over to God and allow God’s grace to transform him. He was not born with a hallow. The hallow only came after years of pain and self-denial.
In his Confessions, St. Augustine is not shy about speaking about his many years or searching for God. Augustine allowed himself to be led astray by so many different attractions. If there was a path that he was supposed to take to become a saint, St. Augustine at times in his youth took every other path. However, God kept at work in St. Augustine and Augustine himself persevered in the call once he understood that it was God who was at work in him.
There are many things that could have gotten in the way of St. Augustine’s efforts to follow God. It would have been very easy for St. Augustine to have given up on himself because of his past. Augustine humorously tells of a prayer that he used to say in his efforts to remain chaste and follow the Lord, as he recounts that he would often pray: “Lord give me chastity, but not yet!’ Like many saints, Augustine could have given up on the idea that God had a mission for him because he was scandalized by his own humanity. However, Augustine, who is also known as the great theologian of grace, also learned that God has a mysterious way of working with us and bringing about growth like that which we hear of in today’s Gospel reading. In fact, in the life of all the saints, there is an amazing confidence not in themselves and their own abilities, but in God and His grace.
This is certainly true of our own parish patron, St. Peter. When Peter is first called by the Lord, he says to Jesus: “Get away from me Lord, I am a sinful man.” The Gospels tell us over and over again how weak and feeble the disciples are. They are constantly getting it wrong and never understand what Jesus is talking about. When Peter is called by Jesus to come to him on the water, Peter’s lack of faith in the Lord causes him to begin to sink as he realizes that he cannot do it on his own. It is only when Peter reaches out to the Lord and trusts in Him that he is able to walk with the Lord on the water. Universally, this is the story of all the saints. They become saints because they persevered and allowed the Lord’s grace to transform them.
In some ways, this is why the image of the garden is so important for all of us who wish to follow the Lord. There is work that the gardener must do. We must all open our hearts to God’s call if we wish to follow. We do need to till the soil and provide the water. However, only God gives the growth and He does so in His time. How and when that growth will take place, is a mystery that only God knows the answer to; it is our call to trust Him and to do our part as we can. St. Paul spoke of this in another one of his letters when he wrote: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” For growth too eventually take place, we must trust that if we do the work that we need to do, God will eventually bring about the growth that will lead us to HIm and the holiness that we desire.
We see in today’s second reading from St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians what the trust we are called to have in God must look like if we are called to grow in in holiness. Paul writes: “Brothers and sisters, we are always confident, even though we know for a while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight.” At times, there is much within ourselves and the world that makes us think that holiness and Heaven may not be possible. Despite the occasional discouragement that we face along the way, we are all of us called to believe that through persistence and perseverance, God will help us to overcome our struggles and to find the freedom and growth that we are seeking. This is expressed in today’s opening prayer, as it states: “O God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously hear our pleas, and since without you mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always the help of your grace, that in following your commandments we may please you by our resolve and our deeds.”
It may seem obvious to say that the greatest obstacle to any of us growing in holiness is sin, but it is true in the most insidious and destructive way. The greatest damage that sin often does is to rob us of our hope. When we see sin in ourselves or in our world, we are led to despair and to believe that growth in the spiritual life for ourselves or others is not possible. This is especially true if we believe that we are capable of becoming saints or changing the world on our own. If I ever think that I must become a saint on my own strength, I am doomed and will fall deeply into an incurable despair.
We live in a world in which we desire to see results immediately. We think that if we take steps 1, 2 and 3, then the result must be immediate, as though holiness came with a simple recipe. I am convinced that is why so many people give up on God and the call to live in relationship with Him. They are willing to struggle with the effort to be holy for a while, but if their troubles do not disappear, and an easy solution does not present itself, they are done. If the temptation or struggle lasts for more than a few days, they assume it is a sign they must give in and give themselves license to change religion and baptize whatever desire they have been unable to resist. This however is not faithfulness to God, it is a kind of narcissism that brings spiritual death to anything and anyone it consumes.
It takes hope to believe that a seed planted in a garden will grow into a big tree. However, because we see so many trees around us, most of us do believe that the seed will grow into a tree. The same hope is required in the spiritual life. To become a saint, we must trust in God and persevere for years upon years. As it can take a lifetime for a tree to grow, and there will be years of drought and flooding in the long life of a tree, so too the spiritual life requires life-long perseverance. Saints are made over a lifetime. There is no short journey to holiness. The one and only path to holiness is a long, winding up-hill path that can only be travelled over an entire lifetime. Those who travel it must do so as they “walk only by faith and not by sight.”
I mentioned earlier that we plant trees and hope they will grow because we have seen so many trees around us grow successfully and know that it does happen. I guess that’s why despite everything we see and hear around us in the world, and my own weakness, I still believe that the road to holiness is possible for those brave enough to persevere along it. As a priest, I have had the privilege of seeing addicts transformed, struggling children become good and caring adults, individuals who life beat-up healed, and those in despair dying in peace. It is the example of those who have gone before me on the path that keeps me hoping that God’s grace can have the same power to transform me one day also. I pray that you may also meet others who give you that same hope. Considering reading the life of a saint if you require an example to inspire you.
Let us pray this weekend that God may give all of us the hope to believe that His call is possible for all of us if we are confident in His grace, and not our abilities, and strive each day to walk by faith and not by sight.
Fr. Michael McGourty,
Pastor, St. Peter’s Parish—Toronto, Ontario.
This reflection based on the readings for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time—Year B: Ezekiel 17: 22-24; Psalm 92: 2 Cor. 5: 6-10; and Mark 4: 26-34.
