15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (2026)
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55:10-11
Psalm 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14 (Luke 8:8)
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-23
July 12, 2026
How do you view suffering?
Paul writes, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
We live in our world where many people reject suffering. Suffering is hard! That’s why we call it suffering!
It is in suffering that we can discover how strong our faith really is. If we have little or a weak faith, we may be like the seed that “fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.” It may sprout up quickly but when it is scorched with suffering, it does not last “for lack of roots.” Suffering can be like the thorns that choke our faith. For these people, it is as Jesus says, “When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.
Yet, we must remember that suffering has value. Christ’s suffering saves us from our sins. Pope St. John Paul II wrote an apostolic letter, Salvifici Doloris On the Christian Meaning of Suffering on our Catholic theology of suffering (February 11, 1984. Boston: Pauline Books & Media. 1984. Cf. My article “Finding Value in Suffering”).
We bring value to our suffering when we offer it as a sacrifice for the good of others as Jesus did for us. The Letter to Hebrews says, “In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8).
In surrendering our sufferings to our Lord, we seek to do His Will. It is in obedience to God’s Will that we can be saved. It is not easy. Jesus knows that. In the garden, He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus trusted in our Father’s plan. We are called to do the same. It is in our response to suffering that we show witness to what it means to be Christian.
Those who reject the very notion of suffering have reason to feel it is good to eliminate all suffering. For example, we should strive to eliminate suffering from hunger. However, we need to look deeper at suffering or we are like those of whom Jesus says, “They look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
How are we to bear suffering (well)?
With grace!
Where do we find this grace?
Just as God provides the rain and the snow that come down to water the world, so does God provide us with grace.
One of the ways in which God offers us grace is in His Word. It is a word that “stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8b). It is a word that is “living and effective” (Hebrews 4:12).
God gives us His Word so that we might understand what it truly means to live. Are you ready to be transformed by God’s Word? God’s Word can transform us with a proper understanding of suffering.
Suffering is not easy. I am tired of suffering but I also want to take up my cross to follow Jesus. We need to ask God to reveal to us what suffering is His Will versus the suffering we create for ourselves or others that is not part of His Plan.
For the suffering we are meant to bear in God’s plan, we need faith. We need grace. This is where Jesus says, “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.”
It is in faith that we come to be like the seed sown soil. It is in faith strengthened by grace that we come to hear God’s Word and understand it. It is in faith and grace that we can bear fruit “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Peace,
Fr. Jeff