THROUGHOUT MY LIFE YOU WERE THERE
In
today's responsorial psalm we pray, "I will sing of Your salvation. On You
I depend from birth; from my mother's womb You are my strength" (Ps 71:6).
The following words from Fr. Carlos Valles, S.J. seem to flow from this psalm:
You
have been in my life, Lord, for as far as my memory goes back. That is my joy
and my boast. My childhood, my youth, and my adulthood have all been under the
shadow of Your hand. I learned Your name from my mother's lips, I called You
friend before I had any other friend, I uncovered my soul to You as I did to no
else. I look back on my life, and I see it full of You, Lord, in my thoughts
and in my joys and in my sorrows. I have walked with You through lights and
shadows, and that is, in the smallness of my humility, the greatness of my
call. Thank You for being with me through my life, Lord.
When
we read the parable in today's Gospel it's easy to imagine Jesus including a
command to "be good soil." After all, we want to bear fruit for our
heavenly Father, don't we? In Jesus, God's kingdom is planted everywhere
throughout this earth. God's grace is widespread. The Scriptures frequently use
the image of fruit-bearing plants or trees to convey the principle of spiritual
life. "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. He is like a tree
planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear
when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of
drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit" (Jer 17:7-8; Ps 1:3).
This
is the result of what will happen when we reflect upon our lives and are able
to see them full of God and His goodness within us!