To the Ends of the Earth: Character – Catholic Men’s Devotionals, Week 6 – The Grain of Wheat

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

John 12:24

As men, we are willing to give up many things to achieve a goal, to sacrifice almost anything for those we love. We will throw ourselves in harm’s way to protect a friend or fight to the end for a noble cause. But the one thing many of us are not willing to give up is the self.

Because of our fallen nature, this is our greatest weakness. Every sin we commit, every wrong we do, and every failure we experience is tied up in our inordinate love of self. It’s one thing to give up time, talent, and treasure for our families and our Church, but to surrender our very self is another story. We want to run our own show. We want to be the master of our own life. If we choose to do the right thing, it’s because we choose.

If that is the limit of our lives, we will always remain as grains of wheat — full of potential but never bearing real and lasting fruit.

The life of a Catholic man should be a resurrection life, lived for heaven and for the will of God. But that cannot happen until we learn to die to our egos, our selfish desires, and our need for ultimate control. None of us is very good at doing that. It is wired into us to take charge and get things done, yet Jesus calls us to surrender our lives, take up our cross, and follow where he leads. Putting all our trust in something outside of ourselves is a frightening prospect, but it is the only way to realize our full potential as men of God.

This week, we will explore what Jesus means when he tells us that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Here are the five key concepts we will consider:

1.         The grain must die to produce fruit.

It must be buried in the ground and die to being a seed in order to grow into a plant that bears fruit. As Catholics, we have been buried in the waters of Baptism and raised to new life in Christ. We have the potential to bear much fruit in our lives.

2.         The change comes both from within and without.

The Holy Spirit works within us to bring change in our lives. He also uses the world around us and our circumstances to help us grow into fruitful Christians.

3.         What is sown in weakness is raised in strength.

The resurrection life that is sown in us transforms our corruptible nature into something glorious. Every day of our lives we are growing into what we will become at the resurrection. This takes place only by Christ’s power.

4.         God has given us all we need to become all we can be.

Just as the seed contains all it needs to become the plant, so we have all we need to be woven into who we are in Christ. As we surrender to the self, we are transformed into the person God has created us to be.

5.         The seed and the plant represent the fullness of salvation.

As Catholics, we believe salvation involves Christ’s sacrifice and our active participation in his saving work for us. We have “been saved,” are “being saved,” and “will be saved.” We have been regenerated in Baptism, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and we live in expectancy of the resurrected life to come.

A Call to Action

God expects his men to be “man enough” to yield to his will, die to self, and be fruitful, productive witnesses to the world. This week, consider how you can cast off sin and selfishness in order to discover the beauty, power, and joy that come when we live our lives completely for God. It is a struggle, but in the struggle the husk of our pride is cracked open, and the fruitful nature of our resurrected life is forced up through the rich soil of adversity until it yields the seeds of future harvests for the Church.

You can learn more about the To the Ends of the Earth devotionals HERE