The Good Soil!

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

2 Sam 7:4-17; Mk 4: 1-20

Today’s Gospel highlights the richness of the good soil that we are called to become. 

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus helps us understand one important insight. The sower scatters the seed, which remains the same in every type of land it falls into. Hence, the difference is not in the act of the sower but in the condition of the soil that receives the seeds. 

This is why St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast we celebrate today, famously said, ‘Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur’ (Whatever is received is received according to the manner of the receiver). Hence, the thirty-, sixty-, and hundredfold of produce entirely depends on us, ‘the soil.’

In many ways, St. Thomas Aquinas can be spoken of as a perfect example of what Jesus means by good soil. His very vocation reveals that all his life he sought the Lord. I believe that an anecdote from his life helps us perceive the truth.

Three months before he died at the age of 49, Jesus spoke to Aquinas from the crucifix. ‘You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward would you receive? What do you wish that I give you?’ Though he could have asked for anything, Aquinas answered from his realization of who his real treasure was. Therefore, he replied, ‘Nothing but you, Lord!’ 

Indeed, Aquinas made God the center of his life. God was the imperishable treasure for him. It was the love of God that inspired his vocation. It was the knowledge of God that he sought in his learning and theology. It was God that his heart relentlessly longed after. Thomas was the good soil that brought forth the unfathomable wisdom of God in his theological writings.

Let us pray that we may become the good soil in whom God’s word takes root, spreads out branches, and brings forth fruit.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar