Happy Sunday in July!

This week in our Sacred Scriptures at the Holy Mass, we are invited to look at God’s way of ruling the world and then to imitate it in a way that allows for human flourishing in life and love. God’s ways are really not harsh, indifferent or quick to destroy, thankfully. He is sovereign, yet mild. He gives room for repentance.

I began writing this piece by googling “how do you make soil fertile?” which should tell you everything you need to know about my own abilities as a gardener.

I remember seeing a packet of seeds in the store one summer as a child and convincing my mother to buy them. They were delphiniums, which bloom into a beautiful cone shape if you know what you’re doing. Alas, I didn’t.

I receive a lot of junk mail. I’m on a bunch of people’s asking-for-money lists, and so were the people who owned this house before me, and when you put it all together, it results in quite the pile of paper accumulating on my counter.

I leave it there because, while I have received this mail, I don’t want to receive it. Do you see the difference? To really receive someone or something, you have to look at it, assess it, make space for it. Accept it. Decide it will have a place in your home or your life or whatever, and give it that place.