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July 15, 2017When infants are born, they can barely focus their eyes past the tip of their noses. Babies learn to see by experience, reaching out and touching their mom’s face. They began to grow through the experience of sight and touch of the world around them. This process continues throughout our lives. We are built for discovery and understanding. It is how we grow in wisdom. We can also look out into the world and see reasons for distrust and disappointment. When we look out into the world, what do we see?
Creation was made ‘subject to futility’
From our perspective, creation can be disappointing. There is much to undermine our trust in the Creator. Humans have used the planet in a selfish way and we can treat each other with great cruelty. St. Paul said in the reading today,
For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; Rom. 8
In the reading from Isaiah, God’s Word is like a seed that is sown, grows and then feeds the world “groaning in labor pains.” That same image of God’s word as a seed is contained in Hosea 2:23 and Jeremiah 31:27. Sometimes, we can look at creation as if it all centered only on us. We fail to see God at work in the world sowing seeds. So, how does the Word of God grow and feed the world?
Does God see us and does he care?
Christian faith tells us that God is intimately involved in his creation. Yet, with the futility we can sometimes feel, we are tempted to doubt God's presence. Jesus, the Word of God, preached about the Father Creator who knows when a sparrow falls. He told us that we are worth more than many sparrows. Even today, the Holy Father and the Bishops speak about our human dignity and the people on the outskirts – the immigrant, the unborn, the persecuted, and those on death row. What underlies that preaching is the conviction that there are more fundamental foundations to human culture and well-being than politics and the economy. What undermines reception of that preaching is all the fears attendant to terrorism, immigration, callous behavior, war and crime.
Creation presents temptations that undermine faith in God
In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the seed being sown, but that other forces work against it. Birds, rocky ground and a scorching sun dry the seed. These natural forces are representative of the challenges to faith; evil undermines people’s capacity to hear God’s Word, tribulations and persecutions undermine the weak and fearful and our anxiety and preoccupations with wealth and acquisition can become more important than God. But the Word, he said, finds good soil and delivers a bountiful harvest. As in the prophecy of Isaiah, the Word returns to God a great harvest.
The story of the seed being sown is not a story about various classes of people. Some are tempted and others are not. Some are bad soil and others are good soil. Instead, this story identifies the temptations and stresses that can confuse all of us when we look out into the world and make decisions about what is of fundamental importance. Everybody has something that is of ultimate value in their life, even if it is just their own well-being. The Gospel reminds us that our individuality is not the ultimate value. We are part of the larger, created world.
Faith is not possible without perseverance
The purpose of our life is to see the face of God as an infant learns to see her mother’s face. Every life has temptations and distractions that undermine our capacity to hear God’s Word and live it. Difficulties, anxieties and concerns enfeeble our response to God. Every human being ever born has been matured or defeated by these very same struggles. Perseverance leads to wisdom and insight. Trying to love who God loves is the key to growth in grace. Growth in charity is not possible without faith. Faith is not possible without perseverance. Perseverance leads us to see the face of God despite the obstacles life presents.
