Wednesday January 27  

Third Week In Ordinary Time

 

THE SEED OF THE KINGDOM

Introduction

      Through Jesus God succeeded implanting his law into the hearts of people through the obedience of Jesus. The new covenant is one that affects people in the deepest of themselves and disposes them to seek God’s will.

      Why has the kingdom of God not taken deeper roots among us? Why does it grow so slowly? In today’s gospel, Mark states that this is a mystery of God’s efforts and people’s lack of depth and understanding. The kingdom is here among us, but it meets the slowing down resistance of people. It is hard to respond to the demands of the gospel, to be converted to God’s plan with us, to form a community that lives according to God’s norms and witnesses to God’s presence. Are we willing to be that community which promotes the growth of God’s kingdom?

 

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
we experience day after day
how difficult it is to accept you
and to let your kingdom grow among us.
Overcome our resistance,
dispose us to accept you
on your own terms,
without any preconceived ideas.
Let the seed of your Son’s Gospel
bear rich fruit in us,
that he may live and reign among us,
now and for ever.

 

Reading 1: Heb 10:11-18

Every priest stands daily at his ministry,
offering frequently those same sacrifices
that can never take away sins.
But this one offered one sacrifice for sins,
and took his seat forever at the right hand of God;
now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.
For by one offering he has made perfect forever
those who are being consecrated.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying:

This is the covenant I will establish with them
after those days, says the Lord:
“I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them upon their minds,”

he also says:

Their sins and their evildoing
I will remember no more.

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4

(4b) You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
“Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

 

Alleluia

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

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
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.”

 

Intercessions:

–         For those who spread the word of the Good News: pastors and missionaries, catechists and teachers, that they may keep sowing the seed, even when they see no harvest yet, we pray:

–         For those who are not moved by the word of God, that the Church may hear their silent yearning and speak the word in such a way that they see that it pertains to their life and happiness, we pray:

–         For those who have remained deaf to the word of God, that they may be moved by it when they see it flowering and bearing fruit in the lives of good Christians, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

God our Father,
we bring before you bread and wine,
the fruits of the harvest.
Sow in us the seeds of life
of the body and blood of your Son,
that we may yield
a rich harvest of justice and love
on account of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

God of power and love,
you have spoken to us
your word of life.
We have spoken to you a response
of good intentions and promises.
Let your word take firm roots
in the depths of our very being,
that we may keep speaking it
in deeds of commitment to one another
which are acts of faith in your future
and in your living Word,
Jesus Christ, our Lord for ever.

 

Blessing

And God sows. He sends the rain and the sunshine to make the seed blooms and grows and bears fruit. But do we let the seed mature and grow? Bear fruit, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

If God is good, why does his Kingdom not grow unchallenged?

In the parable of the sower there is a small detail that immediately draws our attention: lots of seed is wasted in large quantities in a barren land.
The insistence on the waste, failure, and disappointing prospects is an important element of the parable of Jesus. It reflects the reality of the world in which evil appears much stronger, more efficient than good. In most cases the seed does not sprout, that which sprouts does not grow, that which grows is suffocated.
Why does this happen? If God is good, why does his Kingdom not grow unchallenged? These are the questions that Jesus wanted to give an answer.
The farmer in the parable appears to be working in vain and wasting seed and his energy. Jesus tells this parable in a difficult moment of his life. In Nazareth, he is rejected, in Capernaum, he is taken as mad, the Pharisees want to kill him, and the disciples abandon him. It just seems that all his preaching has fallen in vain. The conditions are too unfavorable; his word seems destined to die (cf. Mt 11–12).
With this parable, he wanted to send a message to his discouraged disciples who doubts the usefulness of the apostolic work he was doing. Despite all the contradictions and obstacles, his word would bear abundant fruit because it has in itself an irresistible force of life.
Contrary to all expectations, the coming of the Messiah was not sensational. It has not changed anything in the people’s social and political life. The Baptist was more famous than him. Jesus disappeared into the ground like a small, weak, almost invisible seed. However, after a short time, this seed has begun to sprout. The Gospel has raised humanity and we, today, can verify that the fruitfulness of the parable of the sower is taking place.
All of us sometimes wondered if it’s worth proclaiming the Word of God in a corrupt world and society as those in which we live; if it still makes sense to teach catechism to people who do not listen, whose hearts are hardened, who think only about money, entertainment, and cosy living. Are not the evangelizers and catechists, perhaps sowing in vain?
When these thoughts arise, it is time to profess the faith in the divine power contained in the Word of the Gospel.