The Harvest of Divine Life

Gospel Reflection for June 16, 2024 - Mark 4:26-34

And he said: So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the earth,

And should sleep, and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring, and grow up whilst he knoweth not.

For the earth of itself bringeth forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear.

And when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

And he said: To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? or to what parable shall we compare it?

It is as a grain of mustard seed: which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that are in the earth:

And when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches, so that the birds of the air may dwell under the shadow thereof.

And with many such parables, he spoke to them the word, according as they were able to hear.

And without parable he did not speak unto them; but apart, he explained all things to his disciples. (Mark 4:26-34 DRA)

"For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."

This famous quote, from St. Athanasius, gets to the heart not only of the readings for this Sunday, but of the whole motivation for Christ's Incarnation. It can, of course, be susceptible to misunderstanding, and Catholic apologist Karlo Broussard has explained that a better translation would be "...that we might be deified." Humans, or angels, cannot share in God's incommunicable attributes, such as omnipresence or absolute simplicity, but we can participate in God's communicable attributes, including His goodness, holiness and love. God enables this participation through the power of grace, distributed as He wills from the infinite well of grace won by the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the Cross whose ordinary instruments of reception are the Sacraments of the Church.

I mention this quotation and its related teaching, frequently called divinization, deification or theosis, in connection to the readings for today because one might wonder, after hearing these passages, what plants have to do with the Kingdom of God. The Old Testament reading uses similar imagery of the cedar planted by God on the mountaintop. Christ often employed these kinds of agricultural symbols in His parables, due to the agrarian culture in which His people lived, but its imagery remains familiar to us even today and is a universal part of God's Creation on Earth. Even with all our scientific knowledge, the power which organizes life and causes it to grow and propagate remains mysterious - likewise, even with our millennia of Scripture and Christian theology and philosophy, the power of grace which effects our salvation remains a mystery within the life of the Trinity.

Even so, St. Athanasius's quote can be a helpful way to understand it. The true motivation for Christ's Incarnation, on the positive side of His desire to redeem us from sin, was to deify human nature, to make humanity itself a means for our divinization. By sharing in Christ's divine life through His sacred humanity, most of all His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we can become divinized, to be made ever more in the likeness of God through perfection in charity. As St. Augustine wrote, “He (the Holy Spirit) co-operates to the fruit gathered from the good trees, since He externally waters and cultivates them by the outward ministry of men, and yet of Himself bestows the inward increase.” If we retain this divine life in our souls, at death we will be united with God forever, a unity made possible by our divinization in life. This is the judgment of which St. Paul speaks in the Epistle and which, even apart from the writings of St. James, clearly disproves the Protestant error of sola fide: if our works in life are judged to be good, we will be wed to God for all eternity; if our works were evil, we will receive our just punishment and the consequence of our desire to be separated from God forever.

Humans and angels, both rational beings made in the image of God, are similarly capable of deification, though humans to a higher degree through Christ. But the true distinction between the saved and the lost, those judged to be good or evil, pertains to how we approach our innate and universal human desire for deification, one which can be seen in all cultures and religions and every human action, even those of atheists. Satan desired to become God through his own power; likewise, Adam and Eve desired to "be as gods" (Gn 3:5) on their own terms, in disobedience to God's law. This pride is wholly distinct from the Fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who to the world seemed as small and insignificant as a mustard seed but who became like God, even giving Christ His very humanity, through total surrender to His will and being filled with His grace. Her humility thus divinized her and led to her coronation as Queen of Heaven. All saints imitate her path to deification, recognizing that God is the sower and His Word is the seed - our part is only to remain spiritually healthy, to drink in the water of His grace, bask in the light of His truth and be sustained by the good soil of His Providence.

In the modern world, this dichotomy of approaches to deification, even if not often recognized as such, is key to the confusion and sin which has become so prevalent. Some, following the Pelagian path of Satan and Adam, want to be their own God, to determine their own morality and truth, to shape reality as they see fit. In doing so, they forget that God is the judge and will hold them accountable for their evil deeds, even if they appear successful and content in the eyes of the world. Others, imitating the saints, want only to empty themselves completely, so as to overflow with the divine life of Christ, living a life of humility, charity and prayer. While the first type may be celebrated by popular culture today and even enabled by many in the Church, the second remains the one and only way to salvation.

On this Father's Day, I would like to wish all fathers out there, whether by blood, adoption or the priesthood, all the joys and blessings of God the Father, "Of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named". (Eph 3:15) May we remember and appreciate their loving sacrifices for us, pray for their salvation and imitate them in our own family lives.

St. Joseph, Terror of Demons, ora pro nobis!