Fr. Anastasius Reiser, OSB - celebrant
In our St. John's Bible, which we have on display in the entrance area, there is a beautiful illustration of the parable of the sower in the book of Gospels (Mark 4). We all know this parable that Jesus tells us, a sower who sowed his seed. You remember, part fell on rocky ground, part among thorns, and a good part on good ground. (Mt 13:1-9)
Then the gospel continues and the sower took care of his field as a good farmer should (Mt 13:24-30), he worried about who had sowed all the weeds in his field. Then he watched the wheat and fruit grow as it is.
Now we come to the gospel of today and the harvest time is coming and he sees that it will be a good harvest. His work and care are rewarded and he imagines in his heart what it will be like when he has harvested. He could rest and enjoy what he now has in his barn because it will last for a few years.
And in that moment God answers him in the parable that that is not wise, because he could still die that same night and would not have any of the wealth he has accumulated.
Well, what has changed in the sower since he started cultivating his field?
Do you remember the time when you sowed seeds without machines? I think most of the farmers are using nowadays seeders to sow their corn or wheat. These machines are more accurate and you can set exactly how much wheat needs to be planted per acre so that the optimal amount of corn can grow in the field. But my grandfather and my father still sowed the grain by hand in smaller fields where large machines could not be used. When my father taught me that too, he told me that the most important thing when sowing seeds is that the hand must be opened!
And that's true! One cannot sow if the hand remains closed. You can’t make a fist! You have to give the seed away, be willing to let it go. Like the sower in the gospel, when you sow the seeds, you don't have to worry about what will happen to the wheat. You have to let it go, a trust in what God is going to do with the seed. No matter if a part falls under the thorns or on rocky ground. When the farmer sows, he doesn't worry, he has faith that it will grow.
Likewise, when the plants are growing. Even then he will remain relaxed and let the weeds grow with the wheat. He will not be overly cautious in plucking at each little seedling to encourage growth. Furthermore, he cannot decide how often it should rain. Even in this state of field work he will remain calm and trust in God, who has everything in his hand.
And now comes the point where this farmer stops keeping his hand open. It's okay that he's happy about the harvest. But he folds his hands in front of his belly, wants to stop working, wants to build a bigger barn and then have a carefree life for himself. What is interesting is that he concludes inwardly that he no longer wants to take part in the dynamics of life – and that his hand is now closed! His hands were fully open during the harvest, now they are closed!
And this is the part of the gospel parable where God intervenes and says: stop! When we don’t want to stay in the flow of life and only want to live from what we have, are no longer willing to reseed and no longer want to share with others, God intervenes and says stop!
We humans naturally want to stay in the flow of life. If we stay in life and our everyday life is in a good flow, then we experience ourselves as content. This is contentment about work, about processes that are changing, about growth and movement.
We know from our life experience that this is not always the case. There are crises in life, problems that we have to solve. But that is also part of life and challenges us to stay in the flow of life. But even in such situations: If we master such situations together, then in the end we can be satisfied that we made it together. Here, too, it is important to keep one's hand open for people and to seek and find solutions together with others.
If we look at the Rule of Benedict, we will not find any standstill in life.
The cellarer gives what the monks need to live. And even if he has nothing to give, then at least a good word. So that life keeps flowing and the monk doesn't leave sad, i.e. cut off from the flow of life.
When the abbot has something to discuss, he calls the community together and discusses it with them. He doesn't figure it out on his own. Here, too, he opens his hand and wants to solve the problems with the others.
The superior in the monastery has a feeling for the life flow in the monastery and Benedict says that only then he can be happy when "the flock entrusted to him is allowed to grow". So here, too, contentment only when the community is on the way, when there is change, when life is pulsating.
A contentment that is actually self-righteousness is not a condition that gets you anywhere. That would be a condition that excludes and cuts you off from living with others. This can then also be the same as spiritual death.
Death as the end of life is actually addressed by Benedict only when he speaks of the end of life as a learning process: Lifelong learning in the monastery as "a school of the Lord". Benedict says: We remain in the school of the Lord until to the end of our live. This means that we remain in the dynamic of life permanently.
This is exactly what we do as Missionary Benedictines. Sharing with others what we have. To do it like the sower, the hand must open up, the seed should fly properly so that it can spread everywhere. (And if you look later at the illustration of the St. John’s Bible you can see how the seed are flying between the other words.) We try to show that in our hospitality but also in our missionary work in Africa, where we sow the Word of God, build schools and help the sick people in our hospitals to get well again.
We cannot sit back and relax. When the harvest has been brought in, the next year is waiting for us and continues with sowing new seeds and with the circle of life.
Amen.
~ Fr, Anastasius Reiser, OSB