The rolling fields of Iowa and Nebraska are taking on a light green patina as the young corn and bean shoots break through the moist humus of America’s bread basket.  Greening fields present a great visual to accompany today’s reading from St. Paul.  The mystery of nature regenerating itself reminds us that we, too, must be attentive to our own growth in faith.

Just as fields must be prepared, seeds planted, watered, weeded and nurtured by warm sunlight, so too the seed of faith that is planted within each of us must be nurtured lovingly and attentively.  For it is the quality of our faith that allows us to sow bountifully or sparingly; to give grudgingly or cheerfully; to reap sparingly or in great bounty.

One of the central challenges for those who desire to be women and men of gospel values, is the challenge to form a relationship with the Lord Jesus to such a degree that it actually makes a difference in your life, reflected in your words and your behavior. 

St. Paul reminds us that, “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart.”  Our task is to form that “purposeful heart” which is the result of a rich faith life.  A faith life is one that energizes our actions, purifies our motivation (as the gospel suggests), and allows us to reach outward to others. 

Again we are assured by Paul that “God is able to make all grace abound to you” so you can achieve an abundance of good deeds.  The “purposeful heart” is the repository of those good deeds.

The creator God who supplies that “seed of faith” to you, the sower of good deeds, will continue to provide you a “purposeful heart” and increase the harvest of your right actions.

For this, one should be grateful and give thanks to God, the source of all good things and of all “purposeful hearts.”  As the psalm notes, “Blessed the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in God’s commands.  His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth; the upright generation shall be blessed.”