Guest Column / Richard Etienne

As farmers, as Christians, we are called each day to sow seeds of faith

I come from a family of farmers. We sow seeds.

We don’t control how they grow or what influences the surrounding environment will have on each seed as it matures.

And although we can sometimes influence some conditions that impact that final crop, in the end, we don’t often see those final products.

My sister is a religious education teacher in a Catholic elementary school in Beech Grove. Incidentally, she is also a Benedictine sister. Three of my brothers are priests. One has additionally been given the responsibility of being an archbishop.

I have also been involved in “farming.” I was blessed to have played a role in establishing a “To Encounter Christ” retreat movement in the Evansville Diocese during my 10-year professional career in full-time youth ministry. I planted seeds of faith and watched as many of those seeds bore fruit.

I still “farm” in the many relationships that I now have in retired life, but especially in the family relationships of my children and grandchildren.

My youngest sister also raised three children and now is very involved in the faith development of her four grandchildren.

This to me, is another form of “farming.”

We have all been involved with sowing seeds of faith for large parts of our lives. That is the job of every baptized person: to spread and sow the seeds of faith wherever we find ourselves in life.

Usually, it is in very small ways when a conversation arises that allows us to add a Catholic Christian perspective to an ongoing dialogue.

And in some very special situations, there are moments in which a person may find themselves that allow for a dramatic impact for witnessing to the Gospel—for example, in very large assemblies when given the opportunity to speak.

“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold” (Lk 8:5-8).

In the end, a farmer doesn’t have ultimate control over the soil and where the seed lands. Sometimes they won’t know the outcome of a “crop” in which he or she may have played a role in sewing.

Our faith teaches us to sow seeds as part of our vocation as missionary disciples.

As a farmer, are you doing your part?
 

(Richard Etienne has a degree in theology from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad and resides in Newburgh, Ind.) †