In today's first reading, Isaiah 55: 10-11,the Lord says to us that just like snow and rain do not return to heaven without doing the task for which it was sent, namely watering the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats so neither does my word return to Me void without doing the task for which I sent it.
Every word of the Scriptures is a Living Word. It is sent to prepare the soil of my heart to bear fruit that lasts. God's word is sent to nourish me in the faith, to deepen my trust in Jesus, to bring alive the love in the depth of my being, to open my mind to know Jesus, my heart to love Him and my will to follow Him. The Word of God in the Scriptures and/or in any other vessel in which God send it contains the power to heal me, to excise the spiritual "cancers" within me, to remove obstacles to grace, that is, my pride and covetousness, my ego's need to be in control and to lord it over others, my lack of forgiveness and those attitudes that block me from growing in wisdom and prudence and that throw me into turmoil!
The responsorial psalm, Psalm 34, shares this Good News in another way, reminding us that God rescues us from all our distress. And what is more stressful than having our hearts hardened in such a way that the "rain" and the "snow" of grace sent from heaven are unable to make our hearts fertile. How stressful it is to have the "cancers" of pride and self-righteousness, lust for power and control, and a compulsion to be popular and materially wealthy beyond our needs suffocate us from breathing in the fresh air of the Holy Spirit that is necessary for us to bear the fruits of the Spirit!
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