As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be…
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
ISAIAH 55:10-11
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
These verses are taken from the final part of the “Second Isaiah.” It is the magnificent proclamation of a herald announcing the abundance from God, the incessant sowing of His Word, its unstoppable fruitfulness.
It is one of the most beautiful texts, written to instill an indestructible confidence in the power of the Word of God.
ROMANS 8:18-23
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Paul offers here an original image, which should be more utilized. He imagines the entire creation and, within it, the children of God as the not-yet-born, as creatures in the womb of their mother who have yet to be given birth.
This image provides us with a magnificent starting point for understanding individual life and the entire history as a process of childbirth: we are already, but what we will be has not yet been revealed, like an embryo in the womb of its mother, which is already itself, but is not even a shadow of what it can become.
Thus, creation, reality, humanity, each person, are already reality, they are themselves, but their fullness is yet to be given birth, revealed, and then… no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared…
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.