First Reading – Isaiah
55:10-11 ©
Responsorial Psalm –
Psalm 64(65):10-14 ©
Second Reading - Romans
8:18-23 ©
Gospel Acclamation – 1saiah
3:9
Alternative Acclamation –
John 6:68
The Gospel According to Matthew
13:1 - 23 ©
(NJB)
The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year A)
The
things we do and say have consequences.
Our
words matter, not only the words of God, or God’s messengers, but the words
that belongs to each and every one of us. Even the words we do not utter in any
place, other than that we speak them in the chamber of our hearts, those words
matter too; they matter especially, because each of them is like a seed that
brings forth fruit according to its nature.
Know
this!
It
is right to praise God, the creator of the universe. When we make promises to
God we must never imagine that our promises have been fulfilled, and know that God
would prefer that we make no promises, swear no oaths or take any vows at all.
Do
not look for God to answer your petitions, because God has made us and all of
creation free; God does not interfere in our lives, or the course of the
universe.
We
live out our lives before God; God sees us in our sins, bears witness to our
transgressions, but God knew of this of us, even before God created us, God
knew this and God loved us.
Be
mindful!
God
has chosen all people to be with God.
God
is the author of our well-being.
Temples
and houses are not holy places.
If
you seek justice then live justly, and remember that true justice is never
present without mercy, mercy is the
ultimate gift, mercy is what we seek from God, and mercy is what God expects
from us.
Consider
what the apostle says.
There
is a cosmic purpose behind the suffering we experience in the created order.
We
do not suffer because we are evil, we do not suffer as a punishment for sin. We
are not to blame for the sinfulness of our animal nature, though we are meant
to transcend it, and through grace we can.
The
universe was made this way by God, with all of the suffering hat it entails, and
because it was made this way by God we know that there is a loving purpose
behind it.
Our
suffering is only temporary. All suffering is a finite reality.
There
is a future world where we will all be, together with God, the creator of the
universe, where our suffering will attain its final meaning, and the importance
of it will fall away like old skin, the resolution of sin and suffering will be
just, the ultimate expression of God’s love for one and all.
Share
the faith of the apostle:
It
is wise and good to anticipate the coming of God. It is wise and good to desire
to be in the presence of God. Anticipate that moment, relish it, cherish it, all
the while remaining present to the people and to the events that are actually unfolding
in our lives.
Listen!
The
reward for your faithful service is peace, it is peace in this life and the
knowledge that you have lived well, acted justly, done good.
God
has prepared you for eternity, in the same way that God has prepared everyone, but
do not think for a moment that eternal life is a reward, like a boon granted
for good service.
It
is the gift of God to everyone.
The promise of salvation is not that you will be
spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God will
forgive you.
God has already forgiven you. You are already saved.
Believe it!
Let the goodness of the promise flow through you
now, and start living this life as if it were true.
We are not called to believe in the idea that Jesus
is this or that, the Holy One of God, we are called to act on the principles of
his faith, to live lives of charity and service to each other.
Do it now!
Consider
the Gospel reading for today.
Be
wary of the scriptures that extol the virtues of the disciples, and the apostles
who were the founders of the Church.
There
are many more times in the Gospels when Jesus gives a different teaching, when
the message is not: “to anyone who has, more will be given,” and “but anyone
who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
More
often than this, Jesus teaches; “the first will be last, and the last will be
first.” And “to whom much has been given, much will be expected.”
Remember!
The
enemy is not Satan (a fictitious being), the evil one.
Know
that the enemy is the fear and impatience, it is gluttony, the enemy is the avarice
that lies within the heart of each and every one of us.
Be
mindful of how you live out the Christian life.
On
one day the birds may eat the seed that you cast, on another day, when you cast
your seeds on the same field they may not. Some seed will always be lost to the
birds of the field, but the birds will deposit it elsewhere, and the grain will
grow wild, in places you never expected.
Even
seeds cast among thorns will grow; if the grain is not harvested when it
matures, those seeds will fall to the ground, only to grow again in the next
season.
The
seed is never static, in time even the seed left unharvested in thorny places, even
those seeds will produce, growing strong enough to uproot the thorns that
threatened the harvest.
Do
not be aggrieved at the seed that falls on shallow soil, amend the soil and
cast your seed again.
The
lesson is this:
Always
be prepared in your ministry and never be overconfident.
Even
the farmer who has fields of rich soil, even the farmer who is able to produce
an abundant harvest in one season, may find their fields barren and scorched in
the next.
The
conditions of our lives and those of our ministry are always changing.
First
Reading – Isaiah 55:10-11 ©
The
Word that Goes out From My Mouth Does Not Return to Me Empty
Thus
says the Lord: ‘As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not
return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide
seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my
mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding
in what it was sent to do.’
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 64(65):10-14 ©
Some
seed fell into rich soil and produced its crop.
You
care for the earth, give it water,
you fill it with riches.
Your
river in heaven brims over
to provide its grain.
Some
seed fell into rich soil and produced its crop.
And
thus you provide for the earth;
you drench its furrows;
you
level it, soften it with showers;
you bless its growth.
Some
seed fell into rich soil and produced its crop.
You
crown the year with your goodness.
Abundance flows in your steps,
in the pastures of the wilderness it flows.
Some
seed fell into rich soil and produced its crop.
The
hills are girded with joy,
the meadows covered with flocks,
the
valleys are decked with wheat.
They shout for joy, yes, they sing.
Some
seed fell into rich soil and produced its crop.
Second
Reading - Romans 8:18-23 ©
The
Whole Creation is Eagerly Waiting for God to Reveal his Sons
I
think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as
yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us. The whole creation is eagerly waiting
for God to reveal his sons. It was not for any fault on the part of creation
that it was made unable to attain its purpose, it was made so by God; but
creation still retains the hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to
decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God. From the
beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one
great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the
first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to
be set free.
Gospel Acclamation – 1saiah
3:9
Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Alternative Acclamation –
John 6:68
Alleluia, alleluia!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain for ever.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Matthew
13:1-23 ©
A
Sower Went Out to Sow
Jesus
left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round
him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach,
and he told them many things in parables.
He
said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the
edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of
rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there
was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and,
not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns
grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some
a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’
Then
the disciples went up to him and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’
‘Because’ he replied, ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to
you, but they are not revealed to them. For anyone who has will be given more,
and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he
has will be taken away. The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look
without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case
this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled:
You
will listen and listen again, but not understand,
see
and see again, but not perceive.
For
the heart of this nation has grown coarse,
their
ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes,
for
fear they should see with their eyes,
hear
with their ears,
understand
with their heart,
and
be converted
and
be healed by me.
‘But
happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you
solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw
it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
‘You,
therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of
the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was
sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the
path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word
and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last;
let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls
away at once. The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the
word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and
so he produces nothing. And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the
man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest
and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’
The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year A)
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