Isaiah 55:10-11 / Matthew 6:7-15
We have often heard it said that what goes up must come down. That's true in most cases, but not with age, and often it is not with weight, and certainly not the cost of living.
We have also heard it said that what goes down must come up. But is there anything that goes down and does not come up? If we are thinking what it is then the 1st reading gives us the answer.
In fact it is the Lord who said it - As the rain and the snow comes down from the heavens ...
Yes, we see the rain and the snow come down from the heavens, and we do not see it going up the same way as it came down.
Yet, in a way it does. Because the Lord continues - As the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, ...
If that is what happens to the rain and the snow, then similarly, the Word of the Lord does not return to the Lord empty, without carrying out His will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
Yes, the Word of the Lord has that kind of power to come down upon the earth and fulfill what it was sent to do before the returning to the Lord.
Jesus is the Word made flesh. In the gospel, He taught us "The Lord's Prayer".
As we raise our voices to God in that prayer, as we even "storm heaven" with that prayer, then we must also believe that our prayer will return to us with God's blessings and graces, for every prayer uttered is also every prayer answered.
So God's Word came down to raise us up to God, and our prayer goes up to God and brings down God's blessings and graces upon us.
Let us believe in the power of God's Word and also in the power of our prayer.