Introit
First Reading (Is 55:10-11)
Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
Responsorial Psalm (Ps 65:10,11,12-13,14)
R. The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Second Reading (Rom. 8:18-23)
Brothers and sisters: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Gospel Acclamation
Gospel (Mt. 13:1-9; Short version)
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Catena Nova
Why would it be reasonable to sow among thorns or on rocks or on the pathway? With regard to the seeds and the earth, it cannot sound very reasonable. But in the case of human souls and their instructions, it is praiseworthy and greatly to be honoured. For the farmer might be laughed at for doing this, since it is impossible for a rock to bear fruit. It is not likely that the path will become anything but a path or the thorns anything but thorns. But with respect to the rational soul, this is not so predictable. For here, there is such a thing as the rock changing and becoming rich land. Here it is possible, that the wayside might no longer be trampled upon or lie open to all who pass by but that it may become a fertile field. In the case of the soul, the thorns may be destroyed and the seed enjoy full security. For had it been impossible, this Sower would not have sown. And if the reversal did not take place in all, this is no fault of the Sower but of the souls who are unwilling to be changed. He has done His part. If they betrayed what they received of Him, He is blameless, the Exhibitor of such love to humanity. But mark this carefully: there is more than one road to destruction! There are differing ones and wide apart from one another. (St. John Chrysostom)
Now this has a bearing on ourselves – are we that pathway, those rocks, those weeds? Do we want to be good soil? Let us prepare our hearts to yield thirty, sixty, a hundred, a thousandfold. Thirtyfold or a thousandfold – in each case, it is a question of wheat and nothing but wheat. Do not let us any longer be on that path where our sowing is trampled by passers-by and our enemy lays hold of us like a bird. Further, those rocks or that shallow soil, cause seeds that are unable to endure the heat of the sun, to shoot up too quickly. And most especially – not those weeds, the lusts of this world, a focus for wrongdoing. For what, indeed, could be worse than applying all our efforts to a life that hinders us from attaining life? What more miserable than to cultivate our lives in order to lose life? What could be sadder, than to avoid death only to fall into the power of death? Let us cut off the thorns, prepare the soil, receive the seed, hold fast until the harvest and long to be taken into the barn. (St. Augustine of Hippo)
Dearly beloved, the reading from the holy gospel about the sower requires no explanation, but only a word of warning. In fact the explanation has been given by Truth himself, and it cannot be disputed by a frail human being…. If you aspire to the heights of real honor, strive to reach the kingdom of heaven. If you value rank and renown, hasten to be enrolled in the heavenly court of the angels. Store up in your minds the Lord’s words which you receive through your ears, for the word of the Lord is the nourishment of the mind. When his word is heard but not stored away in the memory, it is like food which has been eaten and then rejected by an upset stomach….Be careful, then, that the word you have received through your ears remains in your heart. Be careful that the seed does not fall along the path, for fear that the evil spirit may come and take it from your memory. Be careful that the seed is not received in stony ground, so that it produces a harvest of good works without the roots of perseverance. (Pope St. Gregory the Great)
There are thorns in the heart that have even wounded the word of God, as our Lord says in the gospel when he relates how the sower’s seed fell among thorns that grew and choked what had been sown (Mt 13:7)… So take care that your vineyard does not bring forth thorns instead of grapes and your vintage produce vinegar instead of wine. Anyone who gathers in the grapes, without sharing them with the poor, is collecting vinegar instead of wine and anyone who stores his harvests, without sharing them with the needy, is not setting aside the fruit of almsgiving but the briars of greed. (St. Maximus of Turin)
Now if you ask me what Jesus Christ means by the sower who goes out early to sow seed in his field, my dear brethren, that sower is the good God Himself! He began His work for our salvation from the beginning of the world by sending His prophets to us before the coming of the Messiah to teach us what we had to do to be saved. And, not satisfied with sending His servants, He came Himself, marked out for us the way we should take and came to preach His holy word. Do you know what those people are like who aren’t sustained by that holy word or who abuse it? They are like the sick without a doctor, like a traveller who has gone astray without a guide, like a poor man without means. Let us rather say, my brethren, that it is altogether impossible to love God and please Him without being nourished by this divine word. What is there that can draw us to attach ourselves to Him if not because we know Him? And what enables us to know Him with all His perfections, beauty and love for us if not God’s word, which teaches us all He has done for us and the good things He is preparing for us in the life to come, if we try hard to please Him? (St John-Marie Baptiste Vianney)
Every moment and every event of every person’s life on earth plants something in her or his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men and women. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love. (Thomas Merton)
Homily
The Statue of Liberty was dedicated less than three years before Cabrini arrived in New York City. Its inscription bearing the famous words from Emma Lazarus' poem The New Colossus was not however to be seen. Though written to help fundraise for the statue's pedestal, it fell into obscurity after Lazarus' death only to be rediscovered years later by a friend who spearheaded an effort to bring the poem to public attention. The bronze plaque containing the sonnet was finally placed on the pedestal in 1903. Because the poem is known mostly for just a few of its lines, it deserves a full hearing as the country celebrates its 250th year:
Now Pope Leo's visit to Cabrini's birthplace was not the only "big moment" for the church in this country. On July 3 he received the National Constitution Center’s 38th annual Liberty Medal which "honors men and women of courage and conviction who strive to secure the blessings of liberty for people around the globe." Leo was recognized for "promoting religious liberty and freedom of conscience and expression around the world—ideals enshrined by America's founders in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution." (https://constitutioncenter.org/about/liberty-medal). His acceptance speech was live-streamed to Philadelphia and can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPJzlklQ0vE.
On the same day the bishops of the United States released a letter from Leo to the people of the United States to commemorate our 250th anniversary in which he noted how
welcoming, protecting and assisting immigrants, whose hopes, sacrifices and contribution have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning. In every generation, those who have arrived seeking freedom, opportunity and a place to belong have helped to shape the nation’s character. To receive them with compassion and generosity is not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/letters/2026/documents/20260625-lettera-anniversario-usa.html).
Finally, there was Leo's highly symbolic visit on the Fourth of July to Lampedusa, the tiny migrant island where tens of thousands of Africans have risked everything, with thousands drowning, trying to reach a better life in Europe.
So in this Sestercentennial (or Semiquincentennial, if you prefer) we might revisit the words in the Collect for today's Mass in light of the anniversary: Show the light of your truth to those who go astray, so that they may return to the right path. Give all who for the faith they profess are accounted Christians the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that does it honor. Or to use the gospel metaphor, we might ask what kind of seed are we sowing on this land which, admittedly, belonged to others and which — whether by treaty, connivance or victory — claimed its sovereignty from the day the Declaration of Independence was signed with the immortal, if unself-conscious words, about "self-evident [truths], that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
But whether you are inclined to focus on rocky, shallow, or rich soil; or on seed that has withered, choked, or produced abundant fruit — no founding document, no political system, no nation, can claim exemption from Paul's insistence that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now — meaning that that however noble the endeavor, we may only claim firstfruits and that redemption lies fully outside the realm of time and space (cf. II).
The Founders knew as much when they warned, "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness" and that "when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security" — words from the Declaration I suspect many Americans would be shocked to find. Nor can we assume they referenced only the tyranny of King George III.
It is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness…..
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
Intercessions (The Sunday Website)
For a greater love for the Word of God: that we may make space in our busy lives to allow the Word of God to challenge and prune us so that we may bear abundant fruit.
For openness of spirit: that our hearts may welcome the Word of God and be fertile soil where the seed will produce an abundant harvest of faith and charity.
For the created world: that we may be aware of God’s revelation through the created world around us, promote respect for it, and work to protect it for future generations.
For all who care for the sick: that God will give them strength and help them to radiate God’s compassion and show deep respect for each person for whom they assist.
For refugees and immigrants, particularly children: that they may be welcomed as a brother or sister in the Lord and treated with love and respect.
For a new springtime of Justice: that God’s reign of Justice and Peace may develop abundantly in our hearts and in all the structures of our society.
For all who have fled their homes: that God will lead those fleeing violence to places of safety, guide and protect those who are recovering from storms and fires to new shelter, and help all who have fled famine and drought to sources of food and water.
God of the heavens, God of the earth, all creation awaits your gift of new life. Prepare our hearts to receive the word of your Son, that his gospel may grow within us and yield a harvest that is a hundredfold. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Offertory Chant
Offertory Anthem
The seed is God’s Word. But that on the good ground are those who hear the Word of God and keep it, keep the Word in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Communion Antiphon
Closing Hymn (Dan Feiten)
Seed, scattered and sown,
wheat, gathered and grown,
bread, broken and shared as one,
the living Bread of God.
Vine, fruit of the land,
wine, work of our hands,
one cup that is shared by all,
the living Cup, the living Bread of God.
Is not the bread we break,
a sharing in our Lord?
Is not the cup we bless,
the blood of Christ outpoured?
The seed which falls on rock
will wither and will die.
The seed within good ground
will flower and have life.
As wheat upon the hills
was gathered and was grown,
so may the church of God
be gathered into one.