July 13, 2014 – Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 55: 10-11; Ps 65: 10-14; Rom 8: 18-23; Mt 13: 1-23
We are accustomed to Jesus teaching us with parables and comparisons and other methods to make His Word clearer. However, God does similar things in the Old Testament. There is a great example in today’s first reading from Isaiah. Scholars have concluded that Isaiah was written some 600 to 800 years before the birth of Christ.
In today’s reading, God compares His Word to the water cycle whereby the rains and snow provide water to the earth so it will be “fertile and fruitful” and then the water returns to the Heavens to begin the sequence again. God stresses that His Word is passed down to us and it should not return to Him “void.”
God’s word, God’s instructions and guidance, are intended for us. Most of us perceive that stewardship involves us practicing our faith regularly, worshipping and praying often. Part of that worship nonetheless is to listen to, to consider, and to act on God’s Word. In that way we are fulfilling His will; His Word is achieving the purpose for which it was sent. That is a major part of stewardship: uniting with God to serve Him and to serve others. Are we listening? St. Patrick himself said, “May the Strength of God pilot us; may the Wisdom of God instruct us; may the Hand of God protect us; may the Word of God direct us.”
