God is always at work: the harvest depends on us being cooperative gardeners
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 12, 2026
Life can somehow be frustrating: we work hard and results don’t seem to appear. Parents train children but they seem not to listen! Students are taught by teachers but they seem more interested in doing crazy things instead of applying the teachings: why do we bother?
On the other side, while elders are getting frustrated, the young people often wonder: Does my life matter? Does anything I do make a difference? The problem is, partly, that the heart of woman/man is impatient while the heart of God is patient. We want instant results.
Sometimes we forget that each person develops at a different speed, affected by varying positive/ negative experiences: in other words, their response capacity is sometimes limited. Sadly, some of those limitations are caused by a loss of trust due to bad experiences.
I’m sure most of us have sent a text message to someone, but get no response: we know (usually) the message is receive but there is no response! Welcome to the life of God! However, God knows and parents learn that messages take time to be digested and produce fruit: just like rain and sunlight make crops grow.
Young and old, alike, are good at groaning (as St Paul told us the world is groaning), because we can lose sight of the full, big picture of life. Especially for parents and teachers, our work is to keep the young people plugged into the right things, like charging a phone: we must provide the right voltage and, even if reluctantly, God’s Word and the Eucharist are part of it.
St Paul encourages us to see the futility of not responding to God’s Word: we end up just groaning in pain or frustration when we try to do it “my way” all the time. We can feel stressed and complain: waiting for exam results, a relationship to heal, or waiting for a job, etc.
The answer is to be active (to respond to the rain and sunlight provided). Our suffering isn’t the end of the story, and hope isn’t pretending everything is fine: it becomes a new beginning. We see this in many movements around the world dealing with injustice and climate change: some respond as freedom fighters and climate warriors. God is calling us to be gardeners.
The parable of the Sower can bring out in us a sense of righteous judgement against those who receive opportunities given to them, but squander them or do nothing! But, the parable reminds us, we are all different soils, depending on our nature, our environment and the nurturing we’ve received (or not!): fertiliser takes time to break down and transform our soil.
Today, we are gently being invited to be patient gardeners for others: to help them transform their soil: to crack open the rocks, break off the thorns, and deepen their soil. Despite the good in social media & artificial intelligence, let’s help them see its dangers which can wipe away or turn their good soil barren. Without good soil, we cannot build meaningful relationships.
To our dear younger generations: see that God’s Word is like rain, it eventually brings life! Even when life feels heavy, hope will grow if we can respond even in small ways. Perhaps each of us can practically plant a seed in a small pot and water the pot each day until the shoot appears. Practically speaking, the daily experience can teach a lot about waiting and doing. To do this as a family activity can be instructive to parents (be patient), and children (be patient).
Every act of kindness… every prayer… every Mass… every encouraging word… is like rain falling on dry ground. We will not see the results this week, this year, but, God’s Word is never wasted: and neither are our efforts to help others through encouraging words and actions: Ask ourselves: Who has quietly watered my life without ever knowing the difference they made?
Today, rather than asking “Which soil am I?“, let’s ask ourselves: “What kind of gardener am I becoming?” We can help circumstances to change for others: to cultivate hard soil; to remove rocks, or cover them with good soil to trap moisture; to add fertiliser to soil and remove the thorns that wound. Jesus never said to leave the poor soil as poor.
In a modern sense, we are called to be like a Wi-Fi access point: just keep broadcasting love and gentleness and eventually people will connect. Let’s not put our lives on Airplane Mode and block the love from others; and let’s not have too many Applications running in our heads: we need a weekly Restart to clear the junk in our memory, and recharge.
Prayer reconnects us and clears our minds. We cannot force a seed to grow: we can only provide the conditions for it to grow naturally. God provides the sunlight, but we are called to give to the soil: fertiliser (good words and a peaceful environment), and water (opportunities to do things). When we are faithful, we know the best is yet to come (harvesting). Let’s not give a final judgement on others, or God, by what we see today: the seed is still growing.
By Gerard Conlan, OMI