Seeds are precious and vital. Farmers depend on them to grow their crops, and thus sustain their livelihoods. Try to imagine: a single tomato seed, depending on the variety, could produce up to 200 tomatoes in a season. Which is truly a remarkable yield! If this is true for a tomato seed, it is equally true for the seed of wheat.

Hence, when Jesus told the Parable of the Sower to His listeners-many of whom were farmers-the sower's seemingly careless act of scattering seeds indiscriminately would have sounded absurd. With the scarcity of grains and the unpredictability of weather, farmers are often very calculative in how they sow.

Yet Jesus reveals something astonishing: the love of God knows no bounds. During the first General Audience of Pope Leo XIV, he reminded us that when Jesus says God sows His Word on all kinds of soil, i.e. our souls, it means that God "does not wait for us to become the best soil, but He always generously gives us His Word. Perhaps by seeing that He trusts us, the desire to be better soil will be kindled in us."

So even when our hearts feel rocky or thorny, God does not withhold His grace but continues to work in us. As St Teresa of Jesus wrote: "God does not deny Himself to anyone who perseveres."(Life 11:4) Therefore, let our hearts be pierced by His Word. May the Lord of the harvest let His harvest grow!