Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 103
Reading 1
Thus
says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
and do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
so shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
my word shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
Responsorial Psalm
R.
(Lk 8:8) The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God's watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows,
breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
The fields are garmented with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain.
They shout and sing for joy.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Reading 2
Brothers
and sisters:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God;
for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,
in hope that creation itself
would be set free from slavery to corruption
and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves
as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower.
All who come to him will have life forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
On
that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
The disciples approached him and said,
“Why do you speak to them in parables?”
He said to them in reply,
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or
understand.
Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted,
and I heal them.
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
"Hear then the parable of the sower.
The seed sown on the path is the one
who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it,
and the evil one comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
or
On
that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
"A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
Throughout Sacred Scripture water and bread have been used in a symbolic sense to emphasis the nurturing effect the words of God and His presence can have on our lives. Jesus called himself the bread of life and offered living water to the woman at the well, to indicate what He was indeed offering her, which was the pathway to salvation and everlasting life. Through Isaiah, God indicates that He is a continued presence throughout His creation and He does indeed have a nurturing effect. His presence in our lives can have the same effect, causing us to grow and transform into something better, something that He intended us to be from the very beginning of our existence. Being separate from Him, or ignoring what He has to say, denies us this nurturing impact He could have on us. Everything that God says and does has a particular purpose. We also have a particular purpose. We were created out of love to love and be loved. Through this act of receiving and giving love, we can then experience our lives the way that God intended us to live it. Through this process, our true potential and who we really are can finally be realized. Getting to know and understand God, enables us to get to know ourselves. We can finally understand who we are and where we are going in this life. Letting God do His work inside of us and responding to Him molding us and guiding us is key to fulfilment.
The Apostle Paul in his letter today describes our souls longing for God, literally groaning along with all of creation for redemption. This is the innate “longing for God,” that the philosopher Rene Descarte describes all of us having. We also read about this in Sacred Scripture:
Psalm 62 says,
“ O God, you are my God, for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
My body pines for you
like a dry, weary land without water.
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory.”
Psalm 42 gives us,
“As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God."
Here again we have the presence of life-giving water that only comes from God. Just as our physical bodies want for water, our souls want for its creator and father, who is God. We have the capability to acknowledge this or ignore it; have it influence our lives or not.
The way that we react to the presence of God’s words and essence is entirely up to us. Jesus presents this in His parable today and in the conversation with His disciples. Earlier, Jesus was speaking to large crowds, so massive that He had to speak from the deck of a boat. They were drawn to His words and His presence. We also read that there were times when He left to get rest and pray, only to be followed as the people longed for more. They were being nurtured by the Living Water that Jesus offered and the spiritual food of His words. When asked about speaking in parables, Jesus indicated that understanding the parables required revelation. There were those who would be ignorant of the words while others, like His disciples, would understand them. This can go back to Jesus’ teaching,
“ Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who seeks will find, everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who knocks, the door will be answered.”
In order to understand them, we have to be searching and asking. This action defines the pursuit of wisdom through knowledge, understanding, and experience. Jesus does not refuse anyone, but it takes action on our part: in order to find, we have to seek. To ask, we have to know who we are asking something from and why. The more we commune with Jesus, the more familiar we will become with Him. Our relationship with Him with then naturally deepen. Jesus describes this effect in the Gospel reading today with the Parable of the Sower. The effect of His words will impact people differently. It is entirely up to us how we receive what is being said, how we process it, and how it impacts our lives. We can resist, rebel, ignore, or accept and love them.
Merely making this decision does not mark the end. It is only the beginning. Constant maintenance is necessary to continue our development and our relationship with Jesus. The deeper we go, the better it will be for us. Psalm One tells us,
“Blessed is the man who does not walk
in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the way* of sinners,
nor sit in company with scoffers.a
Rather, the law of the LORD* is his joy;
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted near streams of water,
that yields its fruit in season;
Its leaves never wither;
whatever he does prospers.”
Living by God’s words and meditating on them, brings only comfort and prosperity. It bears fruit within our soul, nurtures us, and helps us grow. The more we receive, the more we will be given. Saint Faustina gave us a vision of Jesus’ Divine Mercy, pouring out into God’s creation constantly. In order to receive it, we just have to be open to it. From there, only good things will happen. Let us all receive God’s comfort and love, welcoming Him in so Jesus’ words can be planted in our hearts to grow.
Deacon Tom
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