III. IN VARIOUS PUBLIC CIRCUMSTANCES
19. For Productive Land
(Readings from the Mass for the Blessing of Human Labor may also be used see 907-911)
912 Reading from the Old Testament
First Option
God said,
"Let the earth bring forth vegetation:
every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth
that bears fruit with its seed in it."
And so it happened:
the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth that
bears fruit with its seed in it.
God saw how good it was.
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Commentary on Gen 1: 11-12
These verses speak to the creation of all things growing on earth. God created all things that grow, each having its own place and function. Each species was created with the ability to grow and to reproduce itself from seed. This creation account is later used to describe the cycle of death to life as seed must first fall to the ground and then rise again.
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Second Option
Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call him while he is near.
Let the scoundrel forsake his ways,
and the wicked his thoughts;
Let him turn to the LORD for mercy;
to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high are my ways above your ways
and my thoughts above your thoughts.
For 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 1 sent it.
Yes, in joy you shall depart,
in peace you shall be brought back;
Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you,
and all the trees of the countryside shall clap their hands.
In place of the thornbush, the cypress shall grow,
instead of nettles, the myrtle.
This shall be to the LORD'S renown,
an everlasting imperishable sign.
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Commentary on Is 55:6-13
The passage begins with an exhortation to seek the Lord through prayer (call him while he is near) and to repent from sinful ways asking God's forgiveness. The author captures the perfection of God's thoughts (and of Christ's actions prophetically) expressing the perfection of God contrasted with the fallen nature of man and his sinful nature. It is taken from what is known as “Deutero-Isaiah”, that part written after the Babylonian exile. Using words common to the Old Testament (see Amos 5:4, and Psalm 9:11), the prophet exhorts the people to return to God. The essential paradox of God’s presences is explained; “God is transcendent yet near enough to help; man is helpless yet expected to act energetically, the ways of God are exalted yet required of man.”[1]
This reading represents the conclusion of Isaiah’s exhortation about the New Jerusalem. In these few verses we hear how the word of God must be soaked up by the faithful as rain is soaked up by the earth. Once it is absorbed it produces the desired result. Similar thought is expressed in the Gospel of St. John in his exhortation on the Eucharist (John 6:32) as the Word come down from heaven.
“The Word comes from God, but it can be heard only when it is soaked up in human life and spoken with human accents. Deutero-Isaiah [Deutero-Isaiah refers to the second half of the book, written during the Babylonian exile] explains world history, particularly the sacred history of Israel, through the deep, omnipotent presence of the Word (cf. Wisdom 8:1; 2 Corinthians 9:10). M.-E. Boismard attributes to this text the immediate origin of the Johannine theology of the Word (St. John's Prologue [Westminster, 1957] 100). We hear its echo in John's doctrine of the Eucharist-the Word come down from heaven and received as bread (John 6:32, 35).”[2]
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913 Reading from the New Testament
First Option
Brothers and sisters:
God is able to make every grace abundant for you,
so that in all things, always having all you need,
you may have an abundance for every good work.
As it is written:
He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.
his righteousness endures forever.
The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food
will supply and multiply your seed
and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
You are being enriched in every way for all generosity,
which through us produces thanksgiving to God.
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Commentary on 2 Cor 9:8-11
This is possibly part of a second letter, written after Titus was sent from the churches of Macedonia to initiate a collection for the Church in Jerusalem. Here St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that they should be generous as the Heavenly Father is generous and have faith that he will supply their needs as a consequence of their own generosity. He paraphrases Psalm 112:9, reminding his audience that what the give to those in need will be returned to them bountifully in grace from God.
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Second Option
Be patient, brothers and sisters,
until the coming of the Lord.
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
being patient with it
until it receives the early and the late rains.
You too must be patient.
Make your hearts firm,
because the coming of the Lord is at hand.
The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.
Elijah was a man like us;
yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain,
and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land.
Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain
and the earth produced its fruit.
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Commentary on Jas 5:7-8, 16c-18
St. James uses the analogy of a farmer waiting for the harvest to encourage the people. “Those oppressed by the unjust rich are reminded of the need for patience, both in bearing the sufferings of human life (James 5:9) and in their expectation of the coming of the Lord. It is then that they will receive their reward (James 5:7-8, 10-11; cf Hebrews 10:25; 1 John 2:18).”[3]
The Apostle next expounds upon efficacious prayer, encouraging prayer in all things. He uses the example of the Prophet Elijah and references 1 Kings 17:1, 7; 18:1, 41-45. His role in connection with the famine is also recalled in Sirach 48 2-3ff. [4]
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914 Responsorial Psalm
First Option
R. (6) Hear us, O saving God.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God's watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.
R. Hear us, O saving God.
Thus have you prepared the land:
drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods,
Softening it with showers,
blessing its yield.
You have crowned the year with your bounty,
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest.
R. Hear us, O saving God.
The unfilled meadows overflow with it,
and rejoicing clothes the hills.
The fields are garmented with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain.
They shout and sing for joy.
R. Hear us, O saving God.
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Commentary on Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
Psalm 65 is a song of thanksgiving. While the strophes presented are in gratitude for a bountiful harvest, the image of rain falling on crops and fields links nicely to the metaphor used in Isaiah 55. God’s word brings forth a rich harvest causing rejoicing among those who receive its bounty. There is also an obvious connection to the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-23; Luke 8:5-15.
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Second Option
R. (24c) The earth is full of your riches, O Lord.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
R. The earth is full of your riches, O Lord.
You raise grass for the cattle,
and vegetation for men's use,
Producing bread from the earth,
and wine to gladden men's hearts,
So that their faces gleam with oil,
and bread fortifies the hearts of men.
R. The earth is full of your riches, O Lord.
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have wrought them all-
the earth is full of your creatures.
R. The earth is full of your riches, O Lord.
They all look to you
to give them food in due time.
When you give it to them, they gather it;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
R. The earth is full of your riches, O Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 104:1-2a, 14-15, 24, 27-28
This section of Psalm 104 is praising God for the creation of all things which supports Genesis’ creation accounts Genesis 1:1--2:25. It reminds us not to take that first gift for granted but to constantly thank God for wonders of His works. God gives us these gifts as the king gives responsibility for his goods to has steward.
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Third Option
R. (1b) Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
He changed the desert into pools of water,
waterless land into water springs.
And there he settled the hungry,
and they built a city to dwell in.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
They sowed fields and planted vineyards,
and they obtained a fruitful yield.
He blessed them, and they became very many;
nor did he suffer their cattle to decrease.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Lifted up the needy out of misery
and made the families numerous like flocks.
The upright see this and rejoice,
and all wickedness closes its mouth.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
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Commentary on Ps 107:35-36, 37-38, 41-42
Psalm 107 is a hymn of praise sung by those rescued from nature’s fury. In these strophes the psalmist sings of the gift of God's creation as he provides for those who hunger and thirst. He gives the people the bounty of the land to sustain them and the the animals he has created to feed them. His mercy is boundless as he lifts his people from misery. His goodness is celebrated by those who believe in him.
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916 Gospel
First Option
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.”
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Commentary on Mt 13:1-9
St. Matthew’s Gospel begins the third great discourse of teachings on the Kingdom of God through parables. We hear that Jesus is teaching from a boat, which would provide a natural amphitheater, with the ground sloping to the shore. Here the Lord presents the parable of the “Sower.” Jesus follows the unvarnished parable with a deeper explanation to the disciples (Matthew 13: 18-23). As a historical note, at that point in history in that region, when planting a field, the seed was sown first and then the field was plowed.
"But the parable is about seeds and birds and soil and sun and thorns, and perception of the parable’s audible 'body' should make it easier for us to embrace the Word of God as it offers itself to us. This poetic structure acts as an instrument to prepare the soil of our hearts for the reception of the Word being sown: its sounds and rhythms act like a plow that opens up and churns hardened earth." []
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Second Option
Jesus said to the crowd:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”
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Commentary on Mk 4:26-29
This parable is unique to Mark’s Gospel and follows the parable of the Sower we were given earlier. The mystery of the seed is analogous to Jesus’ own ministry which starts as a seed but grows to encompass the world. Emphasis is placed on mystery of life given by God that produces all good things - for God's purpose and in God's time.
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[1] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 22:49, pp. 380
[2] ibid
[3] See NAB Footnote on James 5:7ff
[4] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 59:38, pp.337
[5] Leiva-Merikakis, Erasmo. Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word: Meditations on the Gospel According to St. Matthew. Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition. p. 194.
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