21 May, Wednesday — The Gardener

May 21 – Saint Christopher Magallanes and his Companions

St. Cristóbal Magallanes Jara was born in the state of Jalisco in Mexico, in 1869. He was ordained priest at the age of 30, and became parish priest of his home town of Totatiche. He took a special interest in the evangelization of the local indigenous Huichol people and founded a mission for them. When government persecution of the Catholic Church began and the seminaries were closed, he opened a small local ‘auxiliary seminary’. He wrote and preached against armed rebellion, but was falsely accused of promoting the Cristero rebellion. He was arrested on 21 May 1927, while on the way to celebrate Mass at a farm. He was executed without a trial, but not before giving his remaining possessions to his executioners and giving them absolution.

With him are celebrated 24 other Mexican martyrs of the early 20th century.

– Universalis

Acts 15:1-6
Jn 15:1-8

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing.”

We’ve started a little vegetable garden on our balcony. I haven’t the greenest thumbs, but over time, with the right amount of sunshine, rain and fertilizer, we’ve seen our plants start to bear fruit. I’m especially proud of our capsicums. Borne out of seeds strewn into an empty earth-filled pot, I didn’t have much expectation for it. But it grew anyway, and lo and behold one day, there was a capsicum. It was so tiny, even as it ripened, but it was a proud moment.

Our plant yielded a small batch of capsicum, each about an inch big, and after five or so capsicums, it stopped producing. There was no fruit. The shoots still grew, and were taller this time, but it yielded little else. Still, I tended to it quite diligently. And then this week, a small miracle happened — it bore fruit again, this time twice as big. I’m still waiting for it to ripen, but every day as I look out the window, I am filled half with hope, half excitement, waiting for what it will bring.

Pottering amongst my plants has taught me a couple of things — i) if left to its own devices, the plants grow, but they grow wild; ii) left unpruned and untended, the fruit withers and dies. The leaves turn yellow, the vegetables become tough rather than tender; iii) the conditions need to be right to bear fruit, and there needs to be a period of rest before the next yield.

We are like little plants in God’s garden, connected to the life source that is God Himself. We each have the same potential to grow and bear fruit; how we live our lives in and with God determines the quality of the fruit that we yield. When we ‘connect’ with God, our lives are purposeful, joyful, our faith is firm — we are good fruit. When we don’t, we grow wild in all directions, we become ambivalent. We do things expected of us (we don’t steal, don’t kill, we are moral citizens) but there is no meaning behind what we do, no reason behind it. When we don’t allow God into our lives to ‘prune’ us, weeds get in the way, they take over and choke us. We may become apathetic, to the point of being spiritually dead. Sure, we can do things, but nothing that has meaning to God. We are so far removed from Him, that there is no connection to speak of.

God is the Gardener in our lives. He cares for us and tends to us. He prepares the conditions needed to bear fruit, He gives us rest at the appropriate times so that we can continuously be fruitful. He gave us Jesus to be the vine, the ‘connection’ to Him; when we resist Jesus, we are also rejecting God’s efforts to make us grow. We need Jesus, for life flows through him from God. Without him, we can do nothing. Let us thus be alive in Jesus, and be fruitful, for we have the best life source ever.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Annette Soo)

Prayer: Lord, we are like seeds strewn in the earth. We are exposed to elements, fragile and vulnerable. But we trust in you to tend us and protect us. May we never be apart from you and always be connected to you, so that we will always grow in God.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Thanksgiving: Lord, you said that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I hold this to be true, in every way and every part of my life. Thank you for being my strength.