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A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 4:26-34)
Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.”
“With many such parables,” Mark tells us, Jesus “spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.” Jesus speaks to the crowd in parables to fix in the mind of the hearers images of the Kingdom of God. One can only imagine with what stuff Jesus might have rendered parables if he walked the earth today. Yet, his parables are grounded in universal human experiences: sleeping and rising; planting and harvesting; and growth and maturity. Perhaps inviting us to come up with our own parables, Jesus says, “To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?” The wonder behind all of the parables is suggested in the man who rises from sleep and sees the seeds he planted sprout and grow. “Of its own accord the land yields fruit.” The Creator never ceases nurturing his kingdom.
God, help me understand the teachings of Jesus in the parables. The smallest of seeds grows to become the largest of plants, its branches providing shade and respite. So it is with your word. With the seeds of faith, let me entrust to your care the soil they are planted in. Stir up in me, Lord, a sense of wonder at your work in the world, the gift of your love that brings life to all and sustains it, and the hope of eternal life in your kingdom. Taking root in me, let that be a witness to the people I encounter today. I can’t pretend to understand the fulness of the Gospel, its life and light; help me understand your word. As the psalmist says, “Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.”
From the Gospel acclamation: “Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.” Saints Timothy and Titus, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.