3rd Week in Ordinary Time
24th January 2024 (Wednesday)
Psalter: Week 3
Reading of the Day
First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:4-17
In those days: The word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me. Your throne shall be established for ever.’” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
Psalm 89:4-5, 27-28, 29-30 (R. see 29a)
R/. I will keep my faithful love for him always.
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live forever.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Mark 4:1-20
At that time: Jesus began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: Soil that is fertile!
Guidlines: Human conditions and situations may be divergent, but disposition should be positive and receptive. Only then, life will be abundantly productive
1. God’s grace is constant and abundant. This grace is beyond all the differences and difficulties of human living situations. It has no discriminations. The seed of God’s grace is offered to all the four kinds of soil in the gospel.
2. But the extent of their receptivity and the way and durability of the care and growth of the seed make the difference in the extent of the production and the product.
3. There is no use in blaming God’s grace or the situations. In fact, these four soil- categories are not exclusive and water-tight compartments. These four types of tendencies and receptivity surround us all in varying degrees.
4. There is a total indifference and lack of openness represented by the wayside soil. There is a lack of stability and depth represented by the rocky soil. There is a lack of resistance and perseverance amidst the dominance of the evil represented by the bushy soil. And there is the total receptivity and fecundity represented by the fertile soil. It is left to us how to respond to God’s grace.
5. Most people are not productive, because they are not receptive and active toward God’s action. Rightly, they are like those described by Jesus in the gospel: They see but do not perceive; they hear, but do not understand. They are so closed and unreceptive. They fail to turn again and to receive God’s forgiveness.
6. In this context, St Francis de Sales whom we commemorate today stands before us as a glowing example of the fertile soil that is superabundant. He was totally receptive to and cooperative with God’s grace and so he bore abundant fruits of the Spirit.
Practice: Productivity and abundance of fruit is not a by chance matter, but a matter of choice to be receptive and diligent to produce.
