The Gardener Who Sows Wildly - Lent Day 38 - Bishop Robert Barron

Why does God create? Is it out of need? No. God creates because he is diffusivum sui, diffusive of himself, bubbling over with joy and fecundity. He creates, as Vatican I says, in order to manifest his glory. He is effervescent, exuberant, over the top, playful and creative love. God is the gardener of being who sows, plants, and prunes.

- Bishop Robert Barron

The above quote is from Bishop Barron’s lenten reflection about the Parable of the Sower. 

I love the phrase about God being “diffusive of Himself”.  He is Creator, and He creates. He does so joyfully and even wildly, as seen in the Parable of the Sower and as Bishop Barron has pointed out. 

If the ground is the least bit receptive, then the seed will take root and grow. That is the good ground that the good seed of the Word falls on. Choose to be that good ground. Ask God to make it so, to make you good ground where the Word can produce fruit. Choose Him choosing you, as the saying goes. 

Matthew 13New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears[a] listen!”