PART II

 

 

3. THE CROSS AND THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

 

“The Holy Gospel says that if the grain that is sown does not die, it remains and brings forth no fruit. But the poor grain that is sown to die and bring forth fruit, what does it endure? Rain, snow, wind, and sun. Thus, the soul is a grain that God sows in the great field of the Church. That it may bring forth fruit, it must die by suffering, pain, contradictions, and persecutions.” (St. Paul of the Cross, CP)

 

 

In meditating on this comparison that Jesus gives us in regards to a grain of wheat, the Spirit leads me to visualize so many rich insights. Here is the quotation:

 

"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." (John 12:24)

 

Comparing ourselves to a grain of wheat, if we refuse to go down into the ground and open up, we will not sprout to become our full potential; just like a plant that ultimately is called to give of itself to others in the form of wheat and bread. And the plants become also foliage to feed animals or enrich the soil for future crops.  We could compare this with the many medicinal plants that bring healing to others, as we who form part of the Tree of Life, on which Our Life Giving Savior hangs.

 

On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations. (Revelation 22:2)

 

This image, no doubt is built on the prophet Ezekiel’s prophecy:

 

Along each bank of the river every kind of fruit tree will grow; their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fresh fruit because the waters of the river flow out from the sanctuary. Their fruit is used for food, and their leaves for healing. (Ezekiel 47:12)

 

This should be a symbol of ourselves to open up to God and in service to others through sacrificial love. Babies are by their very nature self-centered like a grain of wheat…or corn...or rice…When they are hungry, they cry out and food comes to them. But how sad and tragic it is to remain a baby, stunted in growth for the rest of their lives! Their self-centeredness becomes selfishness, expecting everyone to cater toward all their needs. Like a crying baby, they complain, gripe and get angry with all those who don't come to attend to their needs.

 

No, we are called to go down metaphorically into the soil, to be willing not to be seen by others, emptying and dying to ourselves in humility.  In this way, the Holy Spirit may fill us with Her[1] Life Giving presence, so that the continuing creation by God in us, may carry on taking place to reach true maturity. The Spirit in us urges us then to come out of 'seediness', to rise up to become like a mature plant. It's a sacrificial push forward, to break through our outer selves and push forward through the soil, and to rise above it, like a baby who needs to make its way through the womb, suffering from the shock of having to breathe for the first time, as it experiences a change in temperature and light conditions. 

 

Now, the seed becomes a plant, while remaining the same creature. We, too, radically change from being a fertilized egg in our mother's womb, growing into many different shapes, forms and size until our last breath on earth. Total transformation: death to itself as a seed to become a plant…death to oneself, so as to become a transformed life toward our full potential. This all expresses the reality of the Pascal Mystery, the process of death and resurrection, a dynamic which should take place throughout life until our final passage forward, when we pass from this stage of life into Eternity, the plenitude of life. Certainly there are key strong moments in this process of our life's journey, like when we first make a decision to follow Christ.

 

There is a popular belief that Adam's skull was buried on Mt. Calvary … Golgotha… Golgolet.

 

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. (Matthew 27:33)

 

This place, we therefore could say, represents our first ancestors, who wanted to take the place of God out of pride, introducing sin into humanity that leads to death, as symbolized in the skull. It is therefore the Old Adam that, like the seed, must die in us, renouncing pridefulness, and humbly acknowledging God in our life who created us. God wants to carry on doing in us what was started, so that from a seed-state, we may grow up to become like a mature plant, the call to be one in Christ, the New Adam. As St. Paul says:

 

For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ... For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:17.19)

 

We are called in Christ to rise up to new life who draws us to Himself, as He is risen up on the Cross. (cfr. John 12:32) Once again we are given the example symbolized in the rising plant out of the ground.

 

The plant rises up like the vertical beam of the Cross and sideways like the horizontal beam of the Cross, just like the body Jesus on the Cross: love offered to the Father (vertical dimension), while reaching out and embracing humanity (horizontal dimension).

 

 

4. THE CROSS AND AND GOD INCARNATE

 

 

INDEX