S
StevenFrancis
Guest
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 103
Based on the Knox Version of the Holy Bible
Reading 1
IS 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD:
Once fallen from the sky, does rain or snow return to it?
Nay, it refreshes earth, soaking into it and making it fruitful,
to provide the sower with fresh seed,
the hungry mouths with bread.
So it is with the word by these lips of mine once uttered;
it will not come back, an empty echo, the way it went;
all my will it carries out, speeds on its errand.*
Responsorial Psalm*
PS 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
R/ (Lk 8:8)*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
You have brought relief to this land of ours, have watered and greatly enriched it; deep flows the channel where your divine providence grants us food; long time do you prepare it,
R/*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
watering the furrow, loosening the clods,
multiplying, with soft showers, the grain.
blessing its yield.
R/*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Your bounty it is that crowns the year; where your feet have passed, the stream of plenty flows; flows through the desert pastures, till all the hill-sides are gaily clad,
R/*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
herds throng the fields, and the valleys stand deep in corn; the shout of joy everywhere, everywhere the hymn of praise.
R/*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Reading 2
ROM 8:18-23
Brothers and sisters:
Not that I count these present sufferings as the measure of that glory which is to be revealed in us. If creation is full of expectancy, that is because it is waiting for the sons of God to be made known. Created nature has been condemned to frustration; not for some deliberate fault of its own, but for the sake of him who so condemned it, with a hope to look forward to; namely, that nature in its turn will be set free from the tyranny of corruption, to share in the glorious freedom of God’s sons. The whole of nature, as we know, groans in a common travail all the while. And not only do we see that, but we ourselves do the same; we ourselves, although we have already begun to reap our spiritual harvest, groan in our hearts, waiting for that adoption which is the ransoming of our bodies from their slavery.*
Gospel*
MT 13:1-23
That day, leaving the house, Jesus had sat down by the sea-shore,*and great multitudes gathered about him, so that he went on board a ship and sat there instead, while the whole multitude remained standing on the beach. And he spoke to them long, in parables;
“Here”, he began, “is the sower gone out to sow.* And as he sowed, there were grains that fell beside the path, so that all the birds came and ate them up.* And others fell on rocky land, where the soil was shallow; they sprang up all at once, because they had not sunk deep in the ground;* but as soon as the sun rose they were parched; they had taken no root, and so they withered away. Some fell among briers, so that the briers grew up, and smothered them.* But others fell where the soil was good, and these yielded a harvest, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. *Listen, you that have ears to hear with”.
And his disciples came to him, and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”*
“Because”, he answered, “it is granted to you to understand the secrets of God’s kingdom, but not to these others. If a man is rich, gifts will be made to him, and his riches will abound; if he is poor, even the little he has will be taken from him.* And if I talk to them in parables, it is because, though they have eyes, they cannot see, and though they have ears, they cannot hear or understand.* Indeed, in them the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled, You will listen and listen, but for you there is no understanding; you will watch and watch, but for you there is no perceiving. The heart of this people has become dull, their ears are slow to listen, and they keep their eyes shut, so that they may never see with those eyes, or hear with those ears, or understand with that heart, and turn back to me, and win healing from me.
But blessed are your eyes, for they have sight; blessed are your ears, for they have hearing.* And, believe me, there have been many prophets and just men who have longed to see what you see, and never saw it, to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
The parable of the sower, then, is for your hearing.*
Wherever a man hears the word by which the kingdom is preached, but does not grasp it, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart; his was the wayside sowing. The man who took in the seed in rocky ground is the man who hears the word and at once entertains it gladly;* but there is no root in him, and he does not last long; no sooner does tribulation or persecution arise over the word, than his faith is shaken.* And the man who took in the seed in the midst of briers is the man who hears the word, but allows the cares of this world and the false charms of riches to stifle it, so that it remains fruitless. Whereas the man who took in the seed in good soil is the man who both hears and grasps it; such men are fruitful, one grain yielding a hundredfold, one sixtyfold, one thirtyfold.”
Lectionary: 103
Based on the Knox Version of the Holy Bible
Reading 1
IS 55:10-11
Thus says the LORD:
Once fallen from the sky, does rain or snow return to it?
Nay, it refreshes earth, soaking into it and making it fruitful,
to provide the sower with fresh seed,
the hungry mouths with bread.
So it is with the word by these lips of mine once uttered;
it will not come back, an empty echo, the way it went;
all my will it carries out, speeds on its errand.*
Responsorial Psalm*
PS 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
R/ (Lk 8:8)*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
You have brought relief to this land of ours, have watered and greatly enriched it; deep flows the channel where your divine providence grants us food; long time do you prepare it,
R/*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
watering the furrow, loosening the clods,
multiplying, with soft showers, the grain.
blessing its yield.
R/*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Your bounty it is that crowns the year; where your feet have passed, the stream of plenty flows; flows through the desert pastures, till all the hill-sides are gaily clad,
R/*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
herds throng the fields, and the valleys stand deep in corn; the shout of joy everywhere, everywhere the hymn of praise.
R/*The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Reading 2
ROM 8:18-23
Brothers and sisters:
Not that I count these present sufferings as the measure of that glory which is to be revealed in us. If creation is full of expectancy, that is because it is waiting for the sons of God to be made known. Created nature has been condemned to frustration; not for some deliberate fault of its own, but for the sake of him who so condemned it, with a hope to look forward to; namely, that nature in its turn will be set free from the tyranny of corruption, to share in the glorious freedom of God’s sons. The whole of nature, as we know, groans in a common travail all the while. And not only do we see that, but we ourselves do the same; we ourselves, although we have already begun to reap our spiritual harvest, groan in our hearts, waiting for that adoption which is the ransoming of our bodies from their slavery.*
Gospel*
MT 13:1-23
That day, leaving the house, Jesus had sat down by the sea-shore,*and great multitudes gathered about him, so that he went on board a ship and sat there instead, while the whole multitude remained standing on the beach. And he spoke to them long, in parables;
“Here”, he began, “is the sower gone out to sow.* And as he sowed, there were grains that fell beside the path, so that all the birds came and ate them up.* And others fell on rocky land, where the soil was shallow; they sprang up all at once, because they had not sunk deep in the ground;* but as soon as the sun rose they were parched; they had taken no root, and so they withered away. Some fell among briers, so that the briers grew up, and smothered them.* But others fell where the soil was good, and these yielded a harvest, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. *Listen, you that have ears to hear with”.
And his disciples came to him, and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”*
“Because”, he answered, “it is granted to you to understand the secrets of God’s kingdom, but not to these others. If a man is rich, gifts will be made to him, and his riches will abound; if he is poor, even the little he has will be taken from him.* And if I talk to them in parables, it is because, though they have eyes, they cannot see, and though they have ears, they cannot hear or understand.* Indeed, in them the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled, You will listen and listen, but for you there is no understanding; you will watch and watch, but for you there is no perceiving. The heart of this people has become dull, their ears are slow to listen, and they keep their eyes shut, so that they may never see with those eyes, or hear with those ears, or understand with that heart, and turn back to me, and win healing from me.
But blessed are your eyes, for they have sight; blessed are your ears, for they have hearing.* And, believe me, there have been many prophets and just men who have longed to see what you see, and never saw it, to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
The parable of the sower, then, is for your hearing.*
Wherever a man hears the word by which the kingdom is preached, but does not grasp it, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart; his was the wayside sowing. The man who took in the seed in rocky ground is the man who hears the word and at once entertains it gladly;* but there is no root in him, and he does not last long; no sooner does tribulation or persecution arise over the word, than his faith is shaken.* And the man who took in the seed in the midst of briers is the man who hears the word, but allows the cares of this world and the false charms of riches to stifle it, so that it remains fruitless. Whereas the man who took in the seed in good soil is the man who both hears and grasps it; such men are fruitful, one grain yielding a hundredfold, one sixtyfold, one thirtyfold.”
For me, they brought new understanding and fresh insights, especially of the Gospel.