Welcome to the second week of the message series that we are calling “The Harvest Principle.” It is a principle that we get from agriculture and farming, which we in the “Garden State,” should understand.

First, we should remember that a principle is an essential ground rule of life that works whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, whether we know it or not. It is written into the law of nature. The other thing about principles is that they eventually get their way. Sometimes it appears that there are exceptions, but eventually the truth of the principle emerges.

The Harvest Principle goes this way, “you reap what you sow.” I noted last week, that sometimes this principle is used as a weapon, to reproach others (or ourselves), to spread blame and guilt, and to make people feel bad about their past choices. However, that is a misuse of the Harvest Principle, and hopefully over the next few weeks the deacons and I will be able to show you how to use the Harvest Principle in a positive way.

You reap what you sow; you reap in the kind that you have sown, so if you sow tomato seeds, you are going to reap tomatoes. This principle reminds us that life is interconnected. What we do or fail to do now impacts what happens later on. When we sow good seeds, we can expect good fruit. When we sow bad seeds, we can look forward to bad fruit. So if you are in a place in your life that you do not want to be – whether it be in your finances, fitness, relationships – then it is most likely because you have sown and reaped yourself there. Likewise, if you are in a good place in your life, than the chances are that you have laid good seeds to get there. What is true for individuals is also true for communities, companies, and even nations. Not everything in our life is a result of what we have sown for ourselves, but everything or nearly everything we sow will yield something for ourselves or for someone else.

Last week I mentioned that the Harvest Principle has two corollaries. First, you reap what you sow but its always later. We plant that tomato seed today, we will not have tomatoes tomorrow. It takes time. That is why this principle can seem impossible for children to grasp, and it can be very difficult for the rest of us to appreciate. We need to learn patience and persistence. At age 26, when I got my first “real job,” retirement was one of the last things on my mind. But boy am I glad that I listened to my Dad when he explained to me the different retirement options the company was offering me. Now that retirement is at least on the back burner for me (only 20 more years), I am glad that I started putting money aside like Dad told me.

The second corollary is you reap what you sow but it’s always greater. Again, the money I had taken out of each pay check and put into an IRA back when I was in my 20s, has really grown over the years.

Today I want to look at one specific application of this principle, which is probably the most important application of the Harvest Principle. It has to do with our character. Our character is the aggregate of features and traits that form the core nature of a person. God gave us our character. No character is good or bad to begin; it just is. However, over time our thoughts and feelings shape our actions and form our habits. Eventually, each and every decision we make influences and shapes our character.

Perhaps more than any other area of our life, we reap what we sow when it comes to our character because our character affects every other area of our lives. And while we are going to leave everything else behind when we die, we do take our character with us to heaven. As someone once said, “Your thoughts and feelings become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your character, and your character is your destiny.”

This is why the scribe in today’s Gospel reading asked the question he did of Jesus. During that time, the various rabbis debated which was the most important commandment in the Law. They all recognized that God gave us our characters, and that by following His commandments, we could shape our characters to become what God created us to be. But over the centuries, a lot of other “commandments” were “discovered” in the Law given by God to Moses. Which one or ones should a person give their greatest attention to? Which habits were most important in forming?

Jesus answers him by reciting the Shema, which we heard in today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today” (Dt 6:6). Jesus is making it clear that we must keep God first in our lives. He also recognizes that this is where we so often stumble and fall. So often we allow other things – even good things – to become more important than God in our lives.

How often have I heard people say that they didn’t make Mass on Sunday because they had family and/or friends visiting. Family and friends are certainly blessings from God, but they are not more important than God. Those were missed opportunities for spreading the Kingdom of God by inviting our family and friends to come with us to church; and even if they decline the invitation, we would bear witness to God being #1 in our lives by saying, that we would still be going to church, and then you could all go out to brunch (or dinner) afterwards. Or take last weekend as an example; our attendance at the 10 AM and Noon Masses were way down. Why? I am guessing the Eagles’ game starting at 9:30 AM had something to do with it. There is certainly nothing “immoral” or “evil” about being an Eagles’ fan, but they should not be more important than doing our duty towards God.

Jesus adds a second commandment which He says is nearly as important, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Again, Jesus knows us so well. He knows that since the Fall, we all have a tendency to be self-centered, to look out for ourselves first. Jesus knows that that is not the type of habit we want to get into heaven. Constantly looking at ourselves first makes our reality very small, but heaven is infinite. We have to love God first, because He teaching us the real meaning of love, so that we can love other people the way that they should be loved.

Just this week a friend of mine – a very good Christian – posted a meme that basically said, “If you want to be happy you need to learn to FLY – First Love Yourself.” I gently corrected her by pointing out that first God loves us, then we need to love God, otherwise we will not know how to love our neighbors nor ourselves. 

How easily bad seeds can start to be planted. They can seem so innocent, but given time they can produce a lot of bad fruit – things like greed, prejudice, insensitivity towards those in need. 

Jesus wants us to be great. He wants us to have a great character that we bring with us all the way to heaven. That is why this weekend He is teaching us to sow the two most important seeds; first love God, and then love your neighbor as you love yourself. We reap what we sow; later and greater.