1st Reading – Isaiah 55:10-11
10 Thus says the LORD: Just in the same manner as rain and snow descend from heaven, and no longer return there, but soak the earth, and water it, and cause it to bloom and to provide seed to the sower and bread to the hungry,
11 so also will my word be, which will go forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish whatever I will, and it will prosper in the tasks for which I sent it.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
R. (Luke 8:8) The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
10 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.
11 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.
12 You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest;
13 The untilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
14 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.
2nd Reading – Romans 8:18-23
18 Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with that future glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the anticipation of the creature anticipates the revelation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to emptiness, not willingly, but for the sake of the One who made it subject, unto hope.
21 For the creature itself shall also be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.
22 For we know that every creature groans inwardly, as if giving birth, even until now;
23 and not only these, but also ourselves, since we hold the first-fruits of the Spirit. For we also groan within ourselves, anticipating our adoption as the sons of God, and the redemption of our body.
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 – Matthew 13:1-23
1 On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
3 And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.
4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.
5 Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
6 and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.
7 Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
8 But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
9 Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
10 The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11 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.
12 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.
13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
14 Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see.
15 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.
16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.
17 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.
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower.
19 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.
20 The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
21 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.
22 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.
23 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.”