My eyes have seen your salvationThose sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit

Gospel of the Day (Mark 4:1-20)

On another occasion he 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 root; 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."

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Reflections:

"Those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit"

Truly it is «a trustworthy word and deserving of every welcome» (1Thes 1,15), your almighty Word, Lord, which in such deep silence made its way down from the Father's royal throne (Wis 18,14f.) into the mangers of animals and meanwhile speaks to us better by its silence. «Let him who has ears to hear, hear» what this loving and mysterious silence of the eternal Word speaks to us...

For what recommends the discipline of silence with such weight and such authority, what checks the evil of restless tongues and the storms of words, as the Word of God silent in the midst of men. «There is no word on my tongue» (Ps 139[138],4), the almighty Word seems to confess while he is subject to his mother. What madness then will prompt us to say: "With our tongues we can do great things; our lips are good friends to us; we own no master" (Ps 11,5). If I were allowed I would gladly be dumb and be brought low, and be silent even from good things,21 that I might be able the more attentively and diligently to apply my ear to the secret utterances and sacred meaning of this divine silence, learning in silence in the school of the Word if only for as long as the Word himself was silent under the instruction of his mother...

«The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us» (Jn 1,14). With complete devotion, then, let us think of Christ in the swaddling clothes with which his mother wrapped him, so that with eternal happiness we may see the glory and beauty with which his Father has clothed him.