15th Sunday Ordinary Time - July 16th, 2023 (Click Here for Readings)

Isaiah’s comparison of rain and snow to God’s power to return the Israelites to their homeland was easy for them to grasp since their primary occupations were farming.

As advocates of God’s word, we also can offer comfort to our dispirited brothers and sisters in Christ as Isaiah did for the Israelites. We can provide spiritual fertility for others in need when we proclaim the word from the ambo, the pew, our church parking lot and pathways beyond.

God has an end for each of us to achieve with the words that go forth from his mouth so that they do his will and not return to him void. And we can contribute to that end by becoming more alert for opportunities to bring God’s word into our family, social and workplace interactions.

As St. Paul stressed to the Romans in our second reading, we will certainly endure disappointment and suffering as champions of God’s word. But for the time being, we wait and groan for the adoption and redemption of our bodies and the glorious freedom we’ll later share as God’s children.

When we allow the spirit to guide us to God’s eternal call; when we melt our wills to the will of God, our suffering will merely be a transition to our glory and total immersion with God. We can enjoy the first fruits of the spirit now while in wait for the fuller harvest of the spirit within us to be realized later.

The first fruits give us a sample of the life to come; a taste of God’s love; a glimpse of the glory of Christ; a beginning of a new life that will be ours forever and far exceed any suffering we endure now.

Today’s Gospel shows us the correct path toward that glorious life to come. When the seeds of Christ's word are sown and placed in our hearts, we can germinate good fruit when our soil is prepared to receive it.

For those who receive God’s word on bare, rocky and thorny paths, the ones Isaiah refers to who hear but don’t understand, who look and never see, we can be their eye- and ear-openers. 

When they’re hemmed in by the bare, rocky and thorn-ridden lifestyles of faithless friends, family and coworkers; the birds Jesus refers to who snatch up the seeds of God’s word before they germinate; we can be their defense and help them enrich their soil with prayer, study and companionship with faith-filled people.

But we also need to preserve the richness of our own soil and avoid our relationships with faithless and evil-minded people. When we briefly chat about God’s word in passing with casual friends and our conversations move on to more “interesting” topics, the word of God seldom takes root in rocky soil and vanishes. And if our beliefs in the word are challenged or ridiculed by others, we usually give up join in to their secular topics of choice.

Along with rocky soils that deter us from God's word are the thorns of worldly anxiety and lure of riches. Much of my own life was wasted at the expense of my family by my obsession with financial wealth; the disease of "Jones Mania." And when I finally realized all the precious moments and years I’d lost with my loved ones, I said to myself, “How dare you not be satisfied with all the gifts God has blessed you with. What an idiot you are for admiring the Joneses! You ARE the Joneses!” 

So let us pray relentlessly for the strength and willpower to continually uproot the rocks, thorns and predators of our soil, and cultivate it to a welcoming richness for receiving God’s word and bearing fruit a hundredfold.

For more reflections on the Sunday readings, Go Here