“Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and undersandeth it not, there cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart: this is he that received the seed by the way side. And he that received the seed upon stony ground, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy. Yet hath he not root in himself, but is only for a time: and when there ariseth tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized. And he that received the seed among thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choketh up the word, and he becometh fruitless. But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty.”
The Lord is not a puzzle to be solved, but a person to be loved, and He wishes to let your heart unfold and know His merciful love: “Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Thus, He explains this parable outright, but He wills you to understand all His words, that you may always be nourished by the love His words convey: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:69). The first ground onto which the seed that is the word of God falls is the wayside, which can be said to be the heart clogged with sin, but it can also refer to the one who hears it without devotion, reading or hearing the Scriptures carelessly, as a routine, or a mental exercise, and not with the joys of being in a love story. Now, understanding the words of Scripture is supposed to be a source of deep consolation: “Hear me, ye divine offspring, and bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters. Give ye a sweet odour as frankincence” (Ecclesiasticus 39:17-18). There are some, however, who enjoy the flowers given: “His hands are turned and as of gold, full of hyacinths” (Canticle 5:14), but do not wish for the labor of love: “Great labour is created for all men, and a heavy yoke is upon the children of Adam” (Ecclesiasticus 40:1), and these are offended at love’s demands and stray from Him, forgetting the joys of the first love. The third are the thorns, for worldly delights are pricks on the mind for the one that seeks the Beloved, thus does the Bridegroom say: “As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters” (Canticle 2:2). Or, this can mean that riches and things of the world appeal to someone more than the love of God, and so though they have divine grace in them, it is an aspect of their life rather than consuming their lives like an offering: “The angel of the Lord put forth the tip of the rod, which he held in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and there arose a fire from the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened loaves” (Judges 6:21). Thus the love of God is not expressed through them, because other things which are loved more adorn the face of their soul: “As the dressing of a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man” (Ecclesiasticus 27:7). The good ground is the faithful mind, the lover’s heart, that receives the word of God with great joy and lives out the love story in turn: “To thee, O God, I will sing a new canticle: on the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings,” which denote the happy, just heart, “I will sing praises to thee” (Psalm 143:9). It is the soft ground that receives the word with depth, watered with the rains of love and devotion: “He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil” (Deuteronomy 11:14), and emerging in the radiant sun of the face of God in the consecration of the Host: “And it came to pass, whilst he was at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him… And they said one to the other: Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in the way, and opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). The words that plant love in the heart are the ones that are held dearly through life: “My soul melted when he spoke” (Canticle 5:6). This yields fruit, and in God’s magnificent ordering, there are three degrees of good ground, just as there were three degrees of bad. There is an important lesson here, that first comes hearing, then understanding, then action, for spending your prayer time asking for another mission is to be His servant, but to drink of the sweet streams of devotion: “You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour’s fountains” (Isaias 12:3) is to be a lover, which will yield fruit naturally: “Fill up plentifully the streams thereof, multiply its fruits; it shall spring up and rejoice in its showers. Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of thy goodness: and thy fields shall be filled with plenty” (Psalm 64:11-12). With the threefold fruits, it can be said that pleasing thoughts about God bring forth fruits thirtyfold, but to speak on Him from an abundance of love is a great witness to this same love, thus it yields sixtyfold, but actions of love that proceed from the heart on fire is the greatest testament to merciful love, thus yielding a hundredfold. Or, this can be a threefold ladder to God, with the first rung being peace: “Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1), the second being truth: “Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth” (John 17:17), the third being love: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:35). This itself has two mirrors: The first is one’s disposition to Christ: That of a servant yields thirtyfold: “Behold as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters... so are our eyes on the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us” (Psalm 122:2), that of a friend yields sixty: “I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you” (John 15:15), the spouse yields one hundred: “Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards” (Canticle 4:8). The second mirror is the phases of a relationship, for there is a period of mere acquaintance, in which the two become familiar: “Rebecca also, when she saw Isaac, lighted off the camel, and said to the servant: ‘Who is that man who cometh towards us along the field?’ And he said to her: ‘That man is my master.’ But she quickly took her cloak, and covered herself” (Genesis 24:64-65). The second is the time of courtship, when time with the beloved becomes a great joy, and more is known about them: “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed but a few days, because of the greatness of his love” (Genesis 29:20). The third is marriage, when the two are intimately united in love, unbreakable, and living their lives entirely in light of the other, existing for the other: “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6). Therefore, Theophila, seek to yield fruit a hundredfold, being as familiar and in love with Jesus as a woman her husband, for this is your earthly vocation and your heavenly reward: “And the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God hath enlightened it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof” (Apocalypse 21:23).