The seed + vulnerability (Mona Villarrubia)
Just found the below article about the need to be vulnerable on one of my sister’s blogs ( Mona Villarrubia - Christianity in the 21st Century ) and I think it’s quite wonderful. Today’s Gospel was from John chapter 12. One verse caught my attention. 24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” In the homily we were reminded of the process whereby a seed grows. It has to be in the right temperature and level of moisture. Then its protective shell has to soften and crack open. Only then can the seed send out a root and a shoot and make food and grow. The hard shell has to be broken. Two things came to mind as I listened. The first is the obvious prophecy of Jesus’ death and the beginning of the church. Without Jesus’ death would his words have taken root? Without his death would others have been willing to die for their faith? Secondly, I reflected on what happened to bring about his death...