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From: Romans 8:18-25

Christians are Children of God (Continuation)

[18] I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [19] For the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the sons of God; [20] for the creation was subjected
to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; [21]
because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain
the glorious liberty of the children of God. [22] We know that the whole creation
has been groaning in travail together until now; [23] and not only the creation,
but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [24] For in this hope we were
saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? [25]
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it in patience.

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Commentary:

18. “Who is there then”, St Cyprian comments, “who will not strive to attain so
great a glory, by making himself God’s friend, to rejoice immediately with Christ,
to receive the divine rewards after the pains and sufferings of this life? If it is glo-
rious for soldiers of this world to return to their fatherland victorious after defeating
the enemy, how much greater and more pleasing glory will there not be, once the
devil is overcome, to return victorious to heaven [...]; to bear with one the trophies
of victory [...]; to sit at God’s side when he comes to judge, to be a co-heir with
Christ, to be made equal to the angels and to enjoy with the Patriarchs, with the
Apostles and with the Prophets the possession of the Kingdom of heaven [...].
A spirit secure in these supernatural thoughts stays strong and firm, and is un-
moved by the attacks of demons and the threats of this world, a spirit streng-
thened by a solid and confident faith in the future [...]. It leaves here with dignity
and confidence, rejoicing in one moment to close its eyes which looked on men
and the world, and to see God and Christ! [...]. These are the thoughts the mind
should have, this is how it ought to reflect, night and day. If persecution finds
God’s soldier prepared in this manner, there will be no power capable of over-
coming a spirit so equipped for the struggle” (”Epist. ad Fortunatum”, 13).

19-21. To make his point more vividly St Paul, in a metaphor, depicts the whole
of creation, the material universe, as a living person, groaning in pain impatiently
waiting for a future event, raising its head, straining to see something appear
on the horizon.

The material world is indeed, through God’s design, linked to man and his desti-
ny. “Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created ‘in the image of God,’ as
able to know and love his Creator, and as set by him over all earthly creatures
that he might rule them, and make use of them, while glorifying God” (Vatican II,
“Gaudium Et Spes”, 12). The futility to which creation is subject is not so much
corruption and death as the disorder resulting from sin. According to God’s plan
material things should be resources which enable man to attain the ultimate goal
of his existence. By using them in a disordered way, disconnecting them from
God, man turns them into instruments of sin, which therefore are subject to the
consequences of sin.

“Are we of the twentieth century not convinced of the overpoweringly eloquent
words of the Apostle of the Gentiles concerning the ‘creation (that) has been
groaning in travail together until now’ and ‘waits with eager longing for the revea-
ling of the sons of God’, the creation that’ was subjected to futility’? Does not
the previously unknown immense progress—which has taken place especially
in the course of this century—in the field of man’s dominion over the world itself
reveal—to a previously unknown degree—that manifold subjection ‘to futility’? [...]
The world of the previously unattained conquests of science and technology—is
it not also the world ‘groaning in travail’ that ‘waits with eager longing for the re-
vealing of the sons of God’?” (Bl. John Paul II, “Redemptor Hominis”, 8).

Reestablishment of the order willed by God, bringing the whole world to fulfill its
true purpose, is the particular mission of the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life, the true
Lord of history: “’The arm of the Lord has not been shortened.’ God is no less po-
werful today than he was in other times; his love for man is no less true. Our faith
teaches us that all creation, the movement of the earth and the other heavenly
bodies, the good actions of creatures and all the good that has been achieved in
history, in short everything, comes from God and is directed toward him.

“The action of the Holy Spirit may pass unnoticed because God does not reveal
to us his plans, and because man’s sin obscures the divine gifts. But faith tells
us that God is always acting. He has created us and maintains us in existence,
and he is leading all creation by his grace towards the glorious freedom of the
children of God” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 130).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 13:18-21

Parables of the Grain of Mustard Seed and of the Leaven

[18] He (Jesus) said therefore, “What is the Kingdom of God like? And to what
shall I compare it? [19] It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and
sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air
made nests in its branches.”

[20] And again He said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? [21] It is
like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all
leavened.”

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Commentary:

18-21. The grain of mustard and the leaven symbolize the Church, which starts
off as a little group of disciples and steadily spreads with the aid of the Holy Spi-
rit until it reaches the ends of the earth. As early as the second century Tertul-
lian claimed: “We are but of yesterday and yet we are everywhere” (”Apologeti-
cum”, 7).

Our Lord “with the parable of the mustard seed encourages them to have faith
and shows them that the Gospel preaching will spread in spite of everything. The
Lord’s disciples were the weakest of men, but nevertheless, because of the great
power that was in them, the Gospel has been spread to every part of the world”
(St. John Chrysostom, “Hom. on St. Matthew”, 46). Therefore, a Christian should
not be discouraged if his apostolic action seems very limited and insignificant.
With God’s grace and his own faithfulness it will keep growing like the mustard
seed, in spite of difficulties: “In the moments of struggle and opposition, when
perhaps ‘the good’ fill your way with obstacles, lift up your apostolic heart: listen
to Jesus as He speaks of the grain of mustard seed and of the leaven. And say
to Him: ‘”edissere nobis parabolam”: explain the parable to me.’ And you will feel
the joy of contemplating the victory to come: the birds of the air lodging in the
branches of your apostolate, now only in its beginnings, and the whole of the
meal leavened” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 695).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.