The Kingdom Of God Is Like A Rice Paddy
2023년 7월 16일The Kingdom Of God Is Like A Rice Paddy
< Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Tine >
Growing up Italian American, my sister and I hated only one thing. Our Italian heritage insisted we plant a vegetable garden, with tomatoes, string beans, zucchini, peas, eggplant and cucumbers. So after school or during summer vacation, before we could go play with our friends, we had to go to our garden to break up clods of earth, water the plants, tie the tomatoes. We couldn’t wait till we grew up and could stop living like farmers. Well guess what? My father died in 1991; my mother in 2002. My sister lives up in the Adirondacks and when I visit her, guess what we do? We work in the garden! It’s in our blood.
Living in Korea taught me to appreciate the hard work of farmers. My housekeeper’s family name was the same as mine: 배. So one summer I asked if I could go with her to the Bae clan’s village and help with rice transplanting (모내기). We took a Maryknoll seminarian with us. Rising at 5:00 am we ate a huge Korean breakfast and hit the rice fields at 6:00. The women controlled a long string that spanned the length of the rice paddy and insured our planting was in a straight line. But there was a big difference in how Korean men planted the seedlings and how we American guys did it. They finished their line in 30 seconds; we Americans took time to make sure each bunch was even and upright and pretty. Needless to say, we had to abandon our ways and follow the experts. The downside is that it is backbreaking work. The upside is we ate FIVE huge meals that day. With makkoli! But to this day when I eat rice I can’t help but think of the work that went into bringing that food to me. In today’s gospel, Jesus compares spreading the good news to sowing seed. The farmers learn to trust God to make the seed grow. They don’t judge who deserves or doesn’t deserve to receive the Word. In transplanting the word or God, we don’t have to make pretty lines. We just need to plant as many seedlings as possible. We are partners with God in building the kingdom. Make sure you share God’s word as much as possible with everyone you meet today.