Seeds planted – fruit harvested.  We live in a cyclical world.  As Qoheleth, the preacher says in Ecclesiastes, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant…”  There are beginnings and endings in life.  The beginnings and endings are generally events that are visible to us, events that we can celebrate and commemorate, events that we can mark, point to, explain and understand.  T. S. Eliot wrote in the Four Quartets, “What we call the beginning is often the end.  And to make an end is to make a beginning.  The end is where we start from…We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”  Beginnings and endings.  Time is marked by our beginnings and endings.  Yet, in between the beginnings and endings something mysterious happens – life.  There is a mysterious process of growth, transformation and development that occurs in the in-between times of our life that gives life its true meaning and purpose.  This in-between period is often timeless.  How long it is going to take between the beginning and the end is often hidden from us and beyond our control.  It will take as long as it takes.  The time necessary for learning, growing, developing and coming to maturity is often beyond our control.

     We can picture the child who is eager to grow into maturity who looks into the mirror and commands, “Grow.”  But, we cannot will ourselves to grow.  We can picture the student who opens the book and commands, “Learn.”  But, we cannot will ourselves to learn.  Growth and learning will happen along a normal path of development but it is not completely under our control.  In the gospel of Mark, Jesus tells a parable about the mysterious growth and development of the Kingdom of God:  “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.”  (Mk 4,26)  Growth is a mysterious process.  It is an integral part of our lives but we do not know exactly how it happens.  It happens in its own time, its own way and to its own end.

     When we come to the end of a process of growth, we arrive at a new beginning, but the new beginning is not the same beginning because we have grown, learned and developed and we are not the same person that we were when we began.  We are a little taller, smarter and hopefully wiser.  God describes this process through Ezekiel, “I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain…Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.” (Ez 17,22ff)  In life, we are meant to harvest the good, climb a little higher and then grow a little taller.  Our gifts and graces grow over time and can be used to serve others in love.  

     The graces of God’s Holy Spirit work upon us in an interior, hidden and mysterious way to ultimately bring us to perfection.  We cannot will our own holiness, we can only cooperate with the dynamic movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  God wills our holiness and if we cooperate with his will and his graces that have been sown within us through the sacraments we will be transformed and grow in holiness and grace.  How this growth works within us, “we know not how” but we must trust in the efficacious power of Word and Sacrament to foster our growth.  St. Paul reminds us, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2Cor 5,6)  Each day we say our prayers, we read our scriptures, we accomplish our little works of charity, we attend to virtue and we cooperate with God’s grace in whatever manner we can and little by little, we grow in holiness.  We often don’t see any change in ourselves but we must have faith that God’s word is accomplishing its purpose in our lives.

     “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; in all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Prov 3,5f)  As long as we “remain in him” and he remains in us, we will be growing in holiness and grace before the Lord.  God wills that we be holy as he is holy and he makes it possible through the grace that he sows in our hearts.  Trust in him and there will be an abundant harvest of joy and peace.