Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

My word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. - Isaiah 55:11

The rain and snow do not return to the heavens until they have done their work - watered the earth, made it fertile, given seed to the sower and bread to the one who eats. The word that goes from God's mouth works the same way. It goes out. It achieves. It does not return void.

The parable explains the four soils - but the sower is the one who sows generously before assessing the ground. The seed goes on the path and the rocky ground and among the thorns and on the rich soil. The word does not wait for good conditions before being sent. It goes, and in the going it does what it was sent to do.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed. The groaning is real - creation in labor, ourselves in labor. But the ratio is not close: the present sufferings are as nothing compared to the glory. Paul has done the arithmetic, and the result is not that the sufferings are small. It is that the glory is that large.

The thorns choke the word and it bears no fruit. Name the specific thorns - anxiety and lure of riches, as Matthew names them, or their specific equivalents in your life. Pull one specific thorn this week. The word is already planted. The soil needs tending, not new seed. And carry [name]: Lord, let the word you have sown in him not return void. Let it achieve the end for which it was sent. Pull the thorns around it.

Lord, let the word you have sown in me do what it was sent to do. Pull the thorns. Deepen the root. And let me hold the ratio: present sufferings as nothing - glory to be revealed. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us. Amen.