Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Today's Word
Is 55:10-11; Rom 8:18-23; Mt 13:1-23 Read at USCCB
Real Talk
Isaiah: my word goes out and does not return void. It achieves what it was sent to achieve. Like rain and snow that water the earth before going back up.
The parable: a sower goes out and sows everywhere - path, rocky ground, thorns, good soil. Most seeds don't make it. But the sower doesn't assess the conditions before sowing. The word goes out generously.
The explanation: what kills the word is not dramatic opposition. It is anxiety and the lure of riches - the thorns that grow up around it and steal the light. The word is still there. The fruit is what's missing.
Paul: the sufferings of the present time are nothing compared to the glory coming. Creation is groaning in labor pains. We are too. But labor is not illness - it is productive suffering aimed at a birth.
One Prayer
Lord, pull the thorns. Let the word you planted in me bear fruit. And let me hold the ratio: present sufferings as nothing, glory to be revealed. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us. Amen.
Your Challenge
Name the specific thorn in your life right now - the anxiety or the lure that is stealing light from the word that was planted. Not in general. The specific thorn. Pull it this week: one concrete act that removes that specific thing from stealing the space the word needs to grow.
You are not alone. Submit your intentions and they'll be carried to Holy Hour this Sunday.
Take to Holy Hour