This morning
I had one of the instantaneous, flash meditations which are the combination of
academic learning and more so the spiritual wisdom and grace of the Holy
Spirit. We were singing “Now the Green Blade Riseth” at Morning Office. All of
the sudden the song, the scripture “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground
and dies it remains but a grain of wheat” and my recent study of plant
lifecycle for Botany coalesced into a powerful insight.
A grain of
wheat, the seed of wheat, has everything it needs to become what it is meant to
be. The embryo within the seed is fully formed, it has the nourishment it needs
to grow until it can provide its own needs and it has a seed coat to protect it
until it begins the germination process. We too, through God’s grace, have all
the tools we need to be the people we are meant to be to be fully alive in Him.
Even though at times we many not believe that or the process may seem more
painful or dangerous then we want to accept.
With a grain
of wheat an interesting thing can happen. The normal process is meant for that
seed to be released so it can go on and germinate in the soil. It will
sometimes happen that the wheat will germinate while still on the stalk. When this
occurs there is a problem. The stalk
doesn’t have the water and nutrients that it needs to grow and flourish. It may
grow to an extent but it will never become the fully grown plant it is meant to
be unless it falls off the stalk and is planted with the soil.
This can
occur for us in the spiritual life as well. We may start to grow while on the “stalk”,
however there comes a point when we will be lacking the “nutrients” we need to
fully become the person we are meant to be in Christ. For us the stalk isn’t
necessarily the parent plant where we are formed. It’s whatever control (or
multitude of controls) that we’re clinging to; that which we can’t let go of
and allow God to handle. Yet, our call is to make the choice to take that risk,
to die to ourselves and let God take over. When we do so we are guided by Him
to the rich soil which contains all we need to grow, to thrive and to become
our true self in God.
In a very
real way this is what we do as religious when we take our vows. We make the
choice to lay down our lives and place them in God’s hands. In doing so, we are
often guided on a path that we wouldn’t always have dreamed of if we continued
to choose our own plans. However, when we truly surrender we find the endless
peace and love of God at work in our lives. As a junior sister, that is in some
ways the grace of our yearly renewal. Each year we come back and once again say
Lord, I give you permission, take over my life. We do that knowing the
struggles that we have been in that year but also knowing the greater love and
joy which comes when we truly choose to live in His will and way.
-Sister Karol Marie, FSGM
Our junior professed Sisters renewed their vows on Divine Mercy Sunday.
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