THE RICH SOIL OF ACCOMPANIMENT

Rudy Dehaney

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.”

(Mt. 13:1-23)

There was a time during my early college years when I was having struggles with my faith and what I was supposed to do. Spiritually, I was frozen during that time. But throughout my life, I had people who were keeping my soil rich. They were there for me, helping me to grow as a person and planting those seeds within me. When I eventually hit my own moments of crisis, remembering, and relied upon the ones who were there for me, who brought me back to my faith. Spring did come for me, and when it did, the ground was ready.

Later, as I started my own ministerial journey, some mentors took the time to genuinely give their time to help me understand, introduce me to the right people, and guide me along the way. Because they chose to invest in me, I was able to, in turn, invest in others.

My story is an example of what happens when you tend the soil: providing the right environment and space a person needs to grow. It relates to Sunday’s Gospel on the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1–9).

Sometimes in faith, we can just throw out the seeds of Scripture and Church teachings and expect that if we say it enough times, people will listen, understand, and do exactly what we expect. We expect to see the fruits of that labor in how many people we see at church, Bible study, or whatever group we have because that’s how it worked before.

But we have to confront two uncomfortable questions: Is that even the fruit we are actually looking for? And why do we keep expecting a harvest when we haven't looked below our feet to see if the ground is even fertile?

When Jesus describes the seeds that fail to grow, the problem is never the seed. The failure

happens because the environment is too rocky, too shallow, or too choked with thorns. The ground beneath our feet today looks entirely different from what it did fifty or even twenty years ago. The landscape has changed, and how we define what that "fruit" looks like, it too must change. That does not mean, however, that the good soil is not there.

What should some of those fruits be? People who see what is happening in the world around them process it through their faith and act on those faith principles. People who are truly empowered by their faith and love of God and others. But we cannot speed up this process or expect people to get there immediately. We must learn how to truly accompany people as they figure things out. Accompaniment is slow but steady work. That makes the ground rich.

Accompaniment is about trust, presence, and building deeper relationships beyond what is on the surface. It is also about knowing when to offer advice and guidance when a person needs it as they grow. It is about providing a space in which it is easier to see and hear because people have what they need to survive and thrive. It is also not something that is simply up to one person. To accompany one person, it takes more than a few connection points. To till the land, it takes a few hands.

Ministry, especially my own, is helping people grow into their fullest selves. But before we can expect people to be about the mission in their own hearts, we must tend to the soil.

Author: Rudy Dehaney currently serves as the director of Campus Ministry of Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore, Maryland. Rudy has served in youth and young adult ministry for over 15 years and has worked with various groups and organizations to advocate for marginalized communities.

In addition to parish work, Rudy serves as a leader of Cardijn Associates USA, which seeks to promote Cardinal Joseph Cardijn's vision of the lay apostolate in the modern world through the See-Judge-Act method. Racial justice has been a passion of his, and he has worked with various groups and organizations to help advocate for marginalized communities.