15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026
Welcome to everyone who has joined us to pray.
There is something rather comforting about today’s Gospel. Jesus does not paint an idealised picture of the Christian life. He does not promise that every seed will grow, every prayer will be answered exactly as we expect, or every disciple will persevere without struggle.
Instead, he tells a story that is recognisable because it is true.
A farmer goes out to sow. Some seed falls on the path, some among stones, some into thorns and some on rich soil. It is a story of generosity rather than efficiency. No accountant would approve of the farmer’s method. He scatters the seed everywhere because he refuses to give up on any patch of ground.
That is how God deals with us.
The first reading from Isaiah gives us one of the most beautiful promises in all of Scripture. Just as the rain and snow fall upon the earth and never return without watering it, so too the Word of God never returns empty. It always accomplishes the purpose for which God sends it.
Sometimes we become discouraged because we cannot immediately see the harvest.
Parents pray for children who seem indifferent to the faith.
Grandparents wonder whether the values they tried to hand on have been forgotten.
Priests preach week after week without knowing what has been taken up in people’s hearts.
Teachers sow seeds every day without ever seeing the full harvest.
Yet Isaiah reminds us that God’s Word has a quiet effectiveness. Much of what God accomplishes happens beneath the surface long before it appears above the ground.
Anyone who has lived in Tasmania knows something about that. During winter, the gardens appear almost lifeless. The trees stand bare, the soil is cold and the days are so short that we all go home after dark. Yet beneath the earth, life is already preparing for spring. Growth is taking place where no one can see it.
Grace often works in the same way.
Saint Paul speaks today about the whole of creation waiting with eager longing for its fulfilment. Creation itself, he says, is groaning as it waits for redemption. We know that longing. We see it in a world wounded by conflict, loneliness, and uncertainty. We experience it in our own hearts when we discover that nothing less than God can satisfy the deepest desires he has placed within us.
The hymns we sing today remind us that the whole created world gives praise to its Creator. Every creature has its own voice in that great hymn of thanksgiving. We are part of that chorus, but we are also entrusted with a mission. The Lord has placed his Word within us so that it may bear fruit beyond ourselves.
The seed about which Jesus speaks is not simply information to be understood. It is his own life planted within us. Every Eucharist is another sowing of that divine seed. We receive Christ himself, and he asks for a heart that is open, receptive, and willing to be changed.
Later, as we come forward for Holy Communion, we can recall that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth it remains only a single grain. The mystery of Christ’s Death and Resurrection is the mystery that gives life to the Church. It is also the pattern of every Christian life. We discover fruitfulness not by clinging to ourselves but by allowing Christ to shape us.
As our Archdiocese continues preparing for the Synod, we are praying that the Lord will renew the soil of our local Church. A synod is not about producing clever documents. It is about allowing the Word of God to find good soil in us so that our parishes become places where faith grows, hope is strengthened and people encounter the living Christ.
At the end of Mass we shall be sent into the world by the Lord who entrusted the Gospel to his disciples. We do not go carrying our own ideas. We carry the seed of God’s Word. We carry Christ himself.
And because Isaiah has given us God’s own promise, we can leave this Cathedral/church with confidence. The Word that God plants today will not return to him empty. In ways known only to his providence, it will bear fruit, perhaps thirtyfold, perhaps sixtyfold, perhaps a hundredfold, for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.
Most Rev. Anthony J Ireland
Archbishop of Hobart
12 July 2026