For many Ontarians, the Victoria day long weekend is spent gardening. The 'May Long Weekend' is the unofficial date beyond which there is no risk of frost and therefore the tender seedlings and direct seedings can safely go into the ground, uncovered to fare on their own. I was one of the many, out on the land last weekend, tilling, fertilizing, transplanting and direct seeding. It’s such a fun and hopeful time of year, starting again from a blank slate. However, no sooner are the seedlings in the ground that the weeding begins.
Gardening provides so many analogies for the spiritual life, and I found myself thinking, as I was weeding my little patch of earth: why do the weeds thrive and the plants under cultivation struggle? Without constant intervention, the weeds would soon overtake the plants, chocking them off and killing them. But why is it not the other way around? Why do my tomato plants not overtake the dandelions? Why do I not have basil sprouting up amongst the rows of beans rather than invasive greenbloom?
The facility by which weeds grow and the great labour and effort required to grow plants is, I believe captured well by St. Paul. He says: “for the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do.” And this then, truly does get at the root of the issue- there is a tendency in the human person towards sin, and in nature, towards weeds. In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius the meditation on the sin of Adam. The various physical and spiritual effects of that original sin are enumerated. ‘Consider the revolution that took place in nature: the inclemency of the seasons, the revolt of the animals, the sterility of the earth, which of itself only produces thorns and thistles. And there you have it. The reason the weeds thrive is the ‘revolt of nature.’ It is profoundly unnatural for weeds to beat out fruit-bearing plants just as it is profoundly unnatural for man to tend towards evil. But this it reality: behold, the fruits of sin.
The Bottom Line: If weeds in the garden are analogous to vices and sins in the soul, there are some valuable lessons that can be gleaned from the garden. First, if you do nothing- if you put in no effort to root out your faults- you will be overrun with weeds. Second, life is a constant battle against weeds; wherever there is the medium for growth (i.e. soil, life) there will be weeds. Thirdly, it’s best to get the weed out by the root; if you just pull out the top (what’s visible on the surface) it’s guaranteed that the weed will come back. The interior disposition that produces that weed needs to be identified and ripped out.
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