15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
July 16, 2023

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

First of all today, I would like to remember our dear friend, Bishop David O’Connell, who died earlier this year. Today would have been Bishop Dave’s 70th birthday. I’m still missing him, and I know you are too.

So let us thank God for the gift of his life and let us pray for his family today. And let us continue to draw strength from his witness. His devotion to the rosary and Word of God. His filial love for Mary our Blessed Mother. His beautiful episcopal motto: “Jesus, I trust in You.”

And as we remember his life, let us keep him in our hearts and renew our commitment to live as he did — all for Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Just staying close to Jesus and sharing the love of God with the people in our lives.

Obviously, we also, I think, need to go to his intercession because I’m sure that he has received the eternal reward for his life.

This past week I was also thinking about Bishop Dave on our pilgrimage to Mexico City because he, as we know, had a deep devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

When I was there last week, I offered my prayers for him and for all of us in the Archdiocese — for all of you and your families in the presence of the holy image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I asked Our Lady to help the love of Jesus to grow in our hearts, and that we might proclaim that love with greater confidence in everything we do in our lives.

My brothers and sisters, this is what our life is about. That’s what we saw in the life of Bishop Dave and that’s what we all know that we are called to do.

We are part of that great plan of salvation that the prophet Isaiah is talking about in today’s first reading.

The prophet tells us that God’s Word of salvation is a seed that he sows on the earth, a seed that he wants to plant in the soil of every human heart.

Jesus also uses that same image in the Gospel that we just heard, the famous parable of the sower and the seed.

As we heard, some of the seed falls by the wayside, some falls among rocks, and some among thorns. But some of the seed, Jesus tells, falls on rich soil and produces fruit, a rich harvest.

I’m sure that we have heard this parable many times. And I think we understand that Jesus is talking about the “soil” of the heart. Your heart and my heart, the hearts of our neighbors.

What Jesus is saying is that our hearts must be open to receive his Word.

But it is not enough to just hear his Word or to read it on the pages of the Gospel. We need to trust in this Word, and let his Word take root in our hearts.

Sometimes it is difficult for us to hear his Word because there is so much “noise,” out there. So many distractions with all the messages, the internet and the media. I was thinking that that’s the “rocky ground” that our Lord is talking about today.

And we know, too, that often we are weighed down by worries and anxieties. We care about material things — about work, about the social and economic challenges. These are the “thorns” that Jesus talks about.

We all have anxieties, burdens, things that we are worried about.

But we need to remember what Jesus promises: If we love him, if we follow his way for our life, if we keep his commandments, he will set us free, he will show us the way to live and he will show us the way to heaven.

St. Paul tells us today: “Brothers and sisters, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us!”

So my dear brothers and sisters, today let us ask for the grace to really believe that — because it’s true!

Faith is the key that opens the soil of the heart. We need to trust in his Word, trust in his promises. We need to take his Word as the rule for our life.

That’s the meaning of this parable today. Jesus said that, not just in this parable, but a lot in the Gospels. Again and again he tells us: We need to hear his Word, and we need to “do” it. ²

It is in “the doing” that his Word takes root, that it begins to grow and change us.

That is what Jesus means about his Word producing fruit. A seed does not stop growing until it bears fruit. That is what he wants from our lives.

And obviously we can think of somebody that made it a reality in his life — Bishop Dave O’Connell.

So today, my dear brothers and sisters, we need to reflect on how we are the “sowers” now. We are the ones that the Lord is calling to plant the seeds of his love, the seeds of his salvation, that he wants to grow in every heart.

We need to stay faithful, to hold fast to our duty! And our duty is to love and to spread these beautiful seeds of love wherever we go.

And when we think about our own realities, our own lives, we realize that we have opportunities every day to plant these seeds, the seeds of love, of hope, of goodness. Think about your life and your vocation as mothers, as fathers and grandparents. Think about your work, at home, at school. Everywhere!

Just sharing love, sharing kindness, offering to listen, to help. These are all like seeds that can take root in the hearts of the people we come in contact with every day.

Let us try to do it especially this week. Think of yourself as one of those seeds that our Lord has scattered on the earth. Think of your everyday work as planting seeds of love among the people you meet and work with and live with. Do everything for the love of God.

One of the saints said: “What a blessed task we have. We have the job of making sure that in all the circumstances of time and place, the Word of God takes root, springs up, and bears fruit.”³

So let us turn to Holy Mary, our Blessed Mother, to help us.
We remember what the Gospel says, that Mary pondered all these things in her heart — the words of Jesus, the events of his life.

Let us ask her to help us to live as she lived — that his Word may take root more deeply in our hearts and bear fruits in the way we live, and in the way we love.