July 16, 2023: Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading    Isaiah 55.10-11 Thus says the Lord: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Psalm    65 The seed that fell on good soil produced a hundredfold. You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain. For so you have prepared the earth: you water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your pathways overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy. The meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. Second Reading    Romans 8.18-23 Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. Gospel    Matthew 13.1-9 Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables. “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”