2026 Cycle A - 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 55: 10-11; Psalm 65: 10-14; Romans 8:18-23;  Matthew 13: 1-23 or Matthew 13: 1-9

Homily Theme

The Living Word

Have you ever met anyone who claims to hear God speaking to them personally? Do you believe them when they claim they actually hear God? Has God ever spoken to you personally?  It should have been the last time you were at Mass for sure. Notice, the Lector says at the end of the readings, “The Word of the Lord”, to which we responded, ‘Thanks be to God’. God hears your words do you hear His Words? Never allow yourself to miss them at future Masses.  Make sure that you hear at least one Word which you can really live each week. Plant it deep inside your heart and let it bring forth good fruit.  God will be watching. He tells us so today, in today’s  Readings.

In the Gospel this week, Jesus tells us in a parable about the farmer who sowed seeds in a field and the different results from the sowing of those seeds on the footpath, on the rocky ground and, among the thorns: some make no contact with the soil; some have no depth; and some begin to grow but are choked by the thorns. Lastly, there are the seeds that produce a harvest, a hundred fold, sixty fold and thirty fold. Which type are you?  God has been sowing seeds in your soul by His Living Word every Sunday. Those who say Mass is boring aren’t Hearing God’s Living Word:  the seed did not take root in them.  Make sure it does this week.   Let it Live in you.

We are in an age of “Mass” communications: of Television, Internet, Tweeting and. Texting. We know how to communicate with each other, but it seems, not with God. Can we recall any occasion when God spoke to us and it had a radical effect in our lives the following week?  Can we point to a moment when The Word of God really spoke to us in a convincing life changing way? Remember, JESUS says today through the prophet Isaiah that His Word must not come back to Him empty. What is He asking from you today? He is speaking to us all this Sunday at Holy Mass. Spend extra time responding to Him. Tell Him what you plan to do for Him this week, how you plan to grow spiritually through His Living  Word.

When discussing Supreme Court decisions and how some liberal minded people  may disagree with them because they were claiming it was a War on Women, I remind them that they will keep using that slogan but it will not help them.  .  Remember, here on earth we are able to disagree with earthly Courts, Judges and Jurors about their decisions, but one day we will all be judged in a Heavenly Court and there will be no chance to argue about that verdict. We will all be judged by how well we have lived our lives according to The Living Word we heard from Jesus.