Cultivating Good Soil

​A Reflection on the Psalm Sunday, July 12th, 2026:
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 65

R. The seed that fell on good soil produced a hundredfold.

You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain. 

R. The seed that fell on good soil produced a hundredfold.

For so you have prepared the earth: you water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 

R. The seed that fell on good soil produced a hundredfold.

You crown the year with your bounty; your pathways overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy. 

R. The seed that fell on good soil produced a hundredfold.

The meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. 
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R. The seed that fell on good soil produced a hundredfold.

​​​Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Growing up, my grandparents had a lovely vegetable garden. Some would call it a kitchen garden as they primarily planted with foods they intended to eat themselves rather than sell, but that sounds quite reductive of how big it felt to me as a little kid. It had enough room to grow potatoes, peas, green and yellow beans, carrots, corn, tomatoes, a variety of squash, and so many other lovely and filling foods. They also had several fruit bushes scattered around the property - enough for themselves and their extended family, and also the local fauna who would surreptitiously steal a bite here and there.

Even after toiling in the heat of the sun for hours, there was something really special about a hodge podge made from vegetables pulled from their garden that day. Most summers, my grandmother had so many leftovers that she was able to stock up her pantry with a variety of preserves and pickled things.

While we made our little harvests for specific meals, my grandparents would share with us how they had turned this patch of land on their property into a successful kitchen garden. My grandfather shared about pulling up rocks that interfered with the roots. My grandmother explained about good bugs and bad bugs. They laughed over the year the local deer herd had eaten every ear of their corn right out of the stalk and how they deterred the deer from making an easy snack out of their crop. They discussed how they rotated their crops, fed the soil, and rested the earth.

​For them, good soil wasn’t something you happened upon, it was something you cultivated and maintained. To grow the plants they needed, they had to treat the soil they were growing in with diligent care.

I don’t think we’re much different as people. The good soil of our heart can easily become bad soil if we don’t tend to it. The seed God has planted is hearty, but for it to flourish, we have to put our hands to the work too. 

There are going to be times when the fruits of our good soil will be snatched from us by circumstance and the evil one. There are going to be times when our sin is like a rock, choking out the roots. There are going to be times when we hyperfixate too much on one fruit, neglecting the needs of other fruits that will wither on the vine. There are going to be times when we forget to fertilize, water and till our soil, denying the seed planted in us what it needs to grow.

More than any vegetable grown in my grandparents' garden, the seed planted by God will nourish us both now and in eternity. How can we treat that seed with care and ensure it has good soil to flourish in?




Stéphanie Potter

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