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F r o n t i s p i e c e
Blade, Ear, Grain
By Karl Keating
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This Rock
Volume 11, Number 7-8
 July 2000 
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It is a short parable, recounted only by the second Evangelist. In Msgr. Ronald Knox’s translation it reads: "The kingdom of heaven is like this; it is as if a man should sow a crop in his land, and then go to sleep and wake again, night after night, day after day, while the crop sprouts and grows, without any knowledge of his. So, of its own accord, the ground yields increase, first the blade, then the ear, then the perfect grain in the ear" (Mark 4:26–28).
The sower has done his part. He has planted the seed. After that, the seed, the ground, and the rains take over. The sower’s attention has turned to other things. Perhaps he has forgotten his sowing; perhaps he is occupied with sowing elsewhere. No matter. In due course the result is the "perfect grain in the ear," though even that is some time in coming. First comes the blade, breaking through the crust of soil, unfolding in the sun, stretching upward, the seed dying and rising to life in a glorified form. The blade matures into the ear, and even then the plant is not done. Finally the ear itself matures with grain, some of which will become the seed of the next planting.
Whenever I think of this often-overlooked parable, I think of its application to Catholic Answers. I think of myself as the sower, but with this difference. In the parable the sower was conscious of what he was doing, though he then put this particular sowing out of his mind. When I performed my first overt apologetical act, more than twenty years ago now, I was not conscious of anything beyond the immediate incident. I was responding to an anti-Catholic attack. All I knew was that the Church was in the dock and needed defending, so I wrote a small brief and submitted it to the court of public opinion. I thought my participation in the case was over.
I turned to other things, "night after night, day after day," not realizing at first that the little seed I had planted was germinating. First it became a blade—nothing significant, just something to occupy my spare time. Apologetics was then a mere avocation, not a vocation. The blade grew, and I marveled at its growing. It seemed to grow without any intervention from me. It grew to occupy more and more of my day, more and more of my heart. It matured into the ear, and Catholic Answers became a full-fledged and full-time apostolate. It has been more than a dozen years now since I engaged in my previous occupation, and it is hard to believe I ever did anything else except tend to this one little field.
With the application of further sun and time, the ear yields grain—another transformation. I sense this occurring now with Catholic Answers. Most of the signs are yet hidden from the public, as the grain is hidden in the ear, but some signs are visible. One example: the changes in This Rock. When Catholic Answers was a mere blade, I started a monthly newsletter. When that blade began to turn into the ear, the newsletter was replaced by this magazine, a sign of the apostolate’s maturation.
Now, with the ear beginning to produce grain, our magazine again changes—subtly, perhaps, but distinctly. The new format heralds the next step for our apostolate, which is extending its reach, multiplying its efforts, looking forward to that new planting that offers the hope of a Catholic century.
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Catholic Answers
