Saturday of the Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time

Saint Luke 8:4-15

by Daily Gospel | Source: Daily Gospel

First Letter to Timothy 6:13-16.

I charge (you) before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession,
to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ
that the blessed and only ruler will make manifest at the proper time, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no human being has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Psalms 100(99):2.3.4.5.

Worship the LORD with cries of gladness; come before him with joyful song.
Know that the LORD is God, our maker to whom we belong, whosepeople we are, God's well-tended flock.
Enter the temple gates with praise, its courts with thanksgiving. Give thanks to God, bless his name;
good indeed is the LORD, Whose love endures forever, whose faithfulness lasts through every age.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 8:4-15.

When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable.
A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up.
Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold." After saying this, he called out, "Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear."
Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be.
He answered, "Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that 'they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.'
This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God.
Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of trial.
As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit.
But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.

Commentary of the day
Saint Amadeus of Lausanne (1108-1159), Cistercian monk, then Bishop
Marian Homilies n°6, SC 72

"It produced fruit a hundredfold"

He fell to the earth, died and bore much fruit (Jn 12,24). He allowed himself to fall like seed that he might harvest the human race. Blessed is the womb of Mary in which such a seed took root! Blessed is she to whom it was said: «Your belly is a heap of wheat encircled with lilies» (Sg 7,3). Is it not indeed like a heap of wheat, the womb of the Virgin swollen under the action of him who fell in it and from which the whole harvest of the redeemed arose? Yes, dead to the sin within us, we are reborn to Christ in the baptismal spring through the bath of regeneration. Therefore the apostle Paul said: «All of you baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ» (Gal 3,27). So from a single seed innumerable harvests grow, from the seed that comes from the womb of the Virgin Mary.

It is called a «heap» of wheat, not so much because of the great number of the redeemed, but because of the potency of the seed and ability of the sower rather than the multiplicity of those harvested... It is he, your son, O Mary! It is he who, for your sake, was raised from the dead on the third day and, in your flesh, rose above the heavens to fill all things. Therefore are you in possession of this joy, O blessed one. You have received as your lot the object of your longing, the crown for your head... Rejoice and be glad for he who is your glory has risen. You rejoiced in his conception, you were afflicted in his Passion, now be glad in his resurrection. None can take away your joy for the risen Christ can die no more, death has no more power over him (Rom 6,9).

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