Seeds Germinate

Image by Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB. All rights reserved.

I would like to share with you an excerpt from my new book Cultivating God’s Garden through Lent. This is a portion of the entry for Holy Thursday:

Seeds Germinate

The spring retreat I was leading would start in a few hours. At the last minute I decided to make a small gift for the attendees. I took a piece of easily biodegradable paper and wrote a blessing on the outside. Mixing a packet of seeds with a couple of tablespoons of potting mix, I then wrapped a small amount of the seed-soil mix in the paper, tying it all together with garden twine. The attendees would be instructed to bury their blessings in their gardens and wait for what would come into the light…

The miracle of plant seeds is that everything needed for growth is contained within and waiting to be expressed. It is already fertile, has all the DNA needed for living, and is literally hanging in the balance between its current static state and upcoming life.

The size of the seed doesn’t matter; they all contain the genetic material needed to give rise to a new plant. It is like there is a tiny glow at the center of every seed wanting to get out, a fleck of light seeking light beyond the darkness of the soil in which it was planted.

It is awe-inspiring when we realize that God chose the things of the earth to express Himself to us. From the simplest thing of a garden, the seed, comes the greatest revelation. It is from the grain of wheat and the fruit of grapes that we receive bread and wine, bread to nourish and wine to gladden (Ps. 104:14-15)…the Body and Blood of Christ—Eucharist. From that tiny light in a seed to the startling Light of God at Communion, we hear at every Mass “light from light.”

We understand darkness. We were born from a place without light, and our earth was formed out of darkness. Much like the seed to which the absence of light is essential to set root and grow, we too have an inner need for darkness. Without the experience of darkness we would not recognize the Light…

Read more of Margaret’s reflections on spirituality and nature at Morning Rose Prayer Gardens on Patheos.