Today, praise God for the strength he gives you to bear your responsibility in the world. Thank him for the privilege of joining him in his work. Take delight in sharing the growth in your life with those who instruct and inspire you. As you continue to take responsibility for cultivating the life God has given you, never stop working to respond to the cry of this broken world.
Questions for Reflection
What defines your world as far as the people within your sphere of influence, your particular gifts, and your responsibilities to cultivate a kingdom ready for the return of Christ?
What are some of the areas in your life where you think God might be calling you to greater responsibility, and how can you respond to that call?
Praying with Scripture
“Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor 16:13–14).
Tuesday
A cultivator is a man of integrity.
Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
Take heed to the path of your feet,
then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.
Proverbs 4:24–27
Though honesty and integrity may seem like outdated values, a true cultivator knows that they are essential to reaping a harvest for the kingdom of God. Just as a farmer must keep his eyes on what is directly ahead in order to plow straight furrows, Catholic men need to keep their focus on the narrow way of Christ. We cannot accomplish this if we stray from the path of truth.
We are called to shine as beacons of integrity in a darkened world. Our words and actions must be grounded in our faith and stand as examples of what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ. Our integrity cannot be something we pull out only on Sundays, but we must also carry the call of the gospel out to our world during the week. When others see Christ in the way we live, their hearts will become more open to the seeds of truth we sow in their lives. We will be able to walk with them like a team of oxen, sharing the load and bearing our burdens together as we work toward the goal of heaven. Hikers watch their steps as they move along a narrow mountain path. In the same way, we must fix our eyes on the goal of our faith, to make sure we do not stumble or cause others to stumble along the way. Remember, the world is watching!
Questions for Reflection
How important is it to you to be a man of integrity?
Do your words and actions during the week reflect the sacrament you participate in on Sunday?
What steps can you take to cultivate honesty and integrity in your life?
Praying with Scripture
“The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; / he turns it wherever he will. / Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, / but the Lord weighs the heart. / To do righteousness and justice / is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice” (Prov 21:1–3).
Wednesday
A cultivator submits in humility to God’s call on his life.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1–6
How many of us see ourselves as “prisoners” of Christ — captured and bound in his service? This does not mean that our faith is a prison sentence that strips us of our freedom and fun. On the contrary, real men understand that only in submission to Christ do we find our true freedom and strength. We are broken men in need of a Savior.
A submissive spirit is an open spirit, ready for the life-changing work that God will do in our lives. Our brokenness allows God to cultivate the soil of our souls, planting his law of love within us and producing a harvest of good works in his name. As we surrender to our calling as Catholics, we receive the strength to become worthy men who live out the grace we have been given in Christ. We accept our place within the Church, our call to look to our fields of labor within this broken world, and our duty to help shape other broken hearts as the Spirit has shaped ours.
A life lived in surrender to the gospel yields a harvest of unity, peace, faith, and hope, because God can take our shattered dreams and transform them by his perfect plan of love. Then we can reach out to the lost and shape their broken world through our own brokenness that has been overcome by the cross of Christ. God’s grace, lived out in love, leads to thanksgiving and deeper intimacy with our brothers and sisters and a world in need of a Savior. Our unity as a Church overflows into the world and harvests souls for the kingdom of God.
Questions for Reflection
How is yielding to God’s work in your broken heart producing strength and purpose in your life?
What areas in your life still need to yield to the cultivating power of Christ, and how can you work to surrender to the Spirit’s loving care?
How are you working for unity within the Church and carrying that out into the world?
Praying with Scripture
“He has showed you, O man, what is good; / and what does the Lord require of you / but to do justice, and to love kindness, / and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic 6:8).
Thursday
A cultivator is a sacramental man.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
1 Corinthians 10:16–17
We cannot become the men God has made us to be without sharing in the sacramental life of the Church.
Our Catholic Faith is a sacramental faith. The sacraments are great signs of God’s love, which strengthen and empower us to live as believers in Christ. The sacraments allow us to share in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, both as a future hope and a present reality. We can look forward to the harvest of heaven and yet experience the promises of our faith in how we live out the graces of the sacraments in the here and now. The sacraments allow us to become signs of Christ’s love to our family of faith and the lost world around us.
For many men, the sacraments have become so routine that their deeper meaning has become clouded. But we are called to pour ourselves into our faith, even as the sacraments pour out God’s grace into our lives. As we allow the sacraments to shape us and fill us with the power and presence of God, we become true signs of Christ’s sacrificial love, spilling ourselves into the lives of others, transforming their hearts as the Spirit has transformed ours. What a sobering reality it is to know that these great signs of God’s love allow us to touch the souls of others and lead them into the kingdom of God!
Questions