Waiting for the Whole of Creation
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings for Year A: Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
In the second reading this Sunday Paul says the suffering we experience in this live can never be compared with the glory that is waiting for us. We live in the light of the resurrection of Christ but we have not reached the final fulfilment of the hope which the resurrection gives us. The fact that we still experience the reality of suffering and death can lead us to frustration and doubt. Paul was writing for a community experiencing persecution, which is still a reality for some Christians today. However, our experiences and suffering are likely to be of a different sort. That questioning, doubt and frustration can be particularly acute for some people in this time of pandemic. Reflecting on what Paul says to the Romans reminds us that we are not alone in being in this time of waiting.
One of the dangers of our faith is that it can become individualised. We can think it is all about “me” and God rather than about “us”. That distortion can be reinforced by things our tradition. For the Evangelical Protestants there is a danger in the idea of Christ as “my personal saviour” which can lose sight of the idea of Church. As Catholics we are not immune from the same danger, if differently expressed. Within the Catholic tradition there is also a danger in the way we look at sin. Much of our traditional piety focuses on my personal sin and personal forgiveness. Even though that forgiveness comes through the ministry of the Church we can see it in very individual terms. Perhaps Paul can help to realise that we are saved as a people, a Church. It is as the Church that we await the final fulfilment of the resurrection.
As an aside, a less individual view may also give us a different outlook on sin. The current Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion movements remind me, a white, British, male, brought up in an age where we were much less aware of the environmental impact of our prosperity, that I share in a responsibility for many of evils in the world.
Paul also makes clear that it is not just as human beings that we share in the state of eager waiting. We share that with the whole of creation. He paints a graphic picture of the whole of creation “groaning in one great act of giving birth”. Not only are we saved as a people, it is the whole of creation which is to be restored in Christ through his cross and resurrection. This solidarity with all of creation is something which Pope Francis brings out in his encyclical Laudato Si. This encyclical is a corrective to one danger of this awareness that we are in a time of waiting for the fulfilment of the resurrection. We are not called to simply wait passively but to cooperate with the Spirit in that work of restoration and of building the Kingdom of God in our world, here and now, in anticipation of the Kingdom to come. Our solidarity with the whole of creation is something which is to be active. As we hear Paul’s words today let us pray that the Holy Spirit will give us the grace to take our in the mission of solidarity to which we are called.
Fr Chris Pedley SJ