Reading: John 12:20-33
"Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24)
Spiritual truths are not limited to books of Scripture or theology or liturgies or to Bach cantatas or the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, spiritual truths find us in many places. Take the musical The Fantasticks (Schmidt/Jones). The protagonist El Gallo takes the young, naive, head-over-heels couple Matt and Luisa out to experience real world hurts, temptations, and tragedies. The action pauses. El Gallo faces the audience and says:
There is a curious paradox that no one can explain:
Who understands the secret of the reaping of the grain?
Who understands why spring is born out of winter's laboring pain?
Or why we must all die a bit, before we live again?
I do not know the answer. I merely know it's true.
I hurt them for that reason. And myself, a little bit, too…
• GIVE THANKS FOR ALL THE HURTS, TEMPTATIONS, AND TRAGEDIES YOU HAVE SURVIVED AND GROWN FROM.
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