Oh, Sower

Based on (what else?) the Parable of the Sower, to the tune UNDE ET MEMORES (“Lord, Who At Thy First Eucharist”):

Oh, sower, you who came to walk the earth,
to cast your Father's seed both far and wide
on every soil, of every yield and worth
that everywhere it could, it might abide,
come walk the deepest spaces of our hearts:
into our emptiness your word impart.

The highways that our traffic tramples down
can give no shelter to the falling seed;
the choking thorns that any growth surround—
oh Lord, how can these answer to your need?
But still, oh sower, walk in all our ways
and sow in us the living seed of grace.

Our stony hearts, oh Lord, our shallow minds:
in even these you plant the Father's seed
though it no harvest yields or nurture finds,
unless, oh sower, you supply the need!
Transform these places, Lord, by wind and rain
and turn our stony hearts to flesh again!

Oh, Christ, we are so little fertile fields;
can any harvest come from such as we?
Oh, sower, till our ground until it yields
your fearless love, your deep humility!
Prepare us, saving Lord, in every way
for your eternal, joyous harvest day!