Reading 1 2 Sm 7:4-17
“Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD:
Should you build me a house to dwell in?
I have not dwelt in a house
from the day on which I led the children of Israel
out of Egypt to the present,
but I have been going about in a tent under cloth.
In all my wanderings everywhere among the children of Israel,
did I ever utter a word to any one of the judges
whom I charged to tend my people Israel, to ask:
Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’
“Now then, speak thus to my servant David,
‘The LORD of hosts has this to say:
It was I who took you from the pasture
and from the care of the flock
to be commander of my people Israel.
I have been with you wherever you went,
and I have destroyed all your enemies before you.
And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth.
I will fix a place for my people Israel;
I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place
without further disturbance.
Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old,
since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel.
I will give you rest from all your enemies.
The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you.
And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his Kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.
And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
And if he does wrong,
I will correct him with the rod of men
and with human chastisements;
but I will not withdraw my favor from him
as I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul,
whom I removed from my presence.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.’”
Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.
Responsorial Psalm PS 89:4-5, 27-28, 29-30
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will make your dynasty stand forever
and establish your throne through all ages.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock that brings me victory!’
I myself make him firstborn,
Most High over the kings of the earth.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“Forever I will maintain my love for him;
my covenant with him stands firm.
I will establish his dynasty forever,
his throne as the days of the heavens.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mk 4:1-20
A very large crowd gathered around him
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables,
and in the course of his instruction he said to them,
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed 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
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
And when he was alone,
those present along with the Twelve
questioned him about the parables.
He answered them,
“The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”
Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”
GOD'S SEED; GOD'S METHODS
"The sower is sowing…the word." –Mark 4:14
Modern agriculture sows seed very precisely. Along a row, seeds are planted with a specific spacing. In addition, rows are spaced apart horizontally. Thus the amount of seed necessary to plant a field can be calculated from the dimensions of the field. Using modern sowing techniques, seed is not wasted or over-sown. The farmer knows how many seed bags to buy, and can save his costs by not overbuying seed.
This is not the sowing method that Jesus' hearers used. They used the "broadcast" method of sowing. A sower went to the seedpile and held up the bottom of his garment to form a large "pocket." A farm helper poured large quantities of seed into that pocket, as much as the garment could hold without tearing the cloth, "good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will they pour into the fold of your garment" (Lk 6:38; see also Ru 3:15ff). Then the sower walked out to the field and simply scattered seed by pulling a handful of seed from the garment and tossing it from side to side as he walked. There is no concept of spacing seeds precisely; rather, the seeds are scattered everywhere in the hopes that a good harvest grows up.
Too often we share the Gospel with a friend who is like us, but we "space over" people who are poor, of a different race, or enemies, and don't share the Gospel with them. Jesus tells us to spread the Gospel everywhere, in all directions, and allow God to work in each person's life. If a radio station used the modern "spacing" method, who would ever hear the broadcast? Would only one of ten homes get the radio signal? God's Word can do the job in every heart (Is 55:10-11). We just have to get the Word out.
| PRAYER: | Father, may I never fail to spread Your Word because of my prejudices. |
| PROMISE: | "Let him who has ears to hear Me, hear!" –Mk 4:9 |
| PRAISE: | St. Angela began a religious order to alleviate the sufferings of poor, uneducated children and teach them in her schools. |
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