Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 24th January, 2024
Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2
Memorial may be made of St Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church
FIRST READING
A reading from the second book of Samuel 7: 4-17
Your House and your Sovereignty will always stand secure before me.
The word of the Lord came to Nathan
‘Go and tell my servant David,
“Thus the Lord speaks:
Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I have never stayed in a house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have always led a wanderer’s life in a tent. In all my journeying with the whole people of Israel, did I say to any one of the judges of Israel, whom I had appointed as shepherds of Israel my people:
Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
This is what you must say to my servant David,
“the Lord Sabaoth says this:
I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel;
I have been with you on all your expeditions;
Ihave cut off all your enemies before you.
I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. |
I will provide a place for my people Israel;
Iwill plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel;
I will give them rest from all their enemies. the Lord will make you great;
The Lord will make you a House.
And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors,
I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure.
(It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.)
I will be a father to him and he a son to me;
if he does evil, I will punish him with the rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives.
Yet my will is not to withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor.
Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”‘
Nathan related all these words to David and this whole revelation.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 88
Response I will keep my love tor him always.
1. I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever and set up your throne through all ages. Response
2. He will say to me: ‘You are my father, my God, the rock who saves me:
And I will make him my first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth. Response
3. I will keep my love for him always; for him my covenant shall endure.
I will establish his dynasty for ever, make his throne as lasting as the heavens. Response
Gospel Acclamation 1 Sam 3: 9
Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening: you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
or
Alleluia, alleluia!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower; whoever finds the seed will remain for ever.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark 4: 1-20 Glory to you, O Lord
Imagine a sower going out to sow.
Again Jesus began to teach by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at the water’s edge. He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them,
‘Listen!,
Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. And some seeds fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.’
And he said, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’
When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant.
He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may see and see again, but not perceive; may hear and hear again, but not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven’.
He said to them,
‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?
What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them.
Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once.
Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing.
And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Wednesday Third Week in Ordinary Time Mark 4:1-20
Those who like to do some gardening are aware that not everything that is planted will survive the various assaults of weather and insects. However, what doesn’t grow or what grows and doesn’t last can be more than compensated for by what flourishes. It can be such a joy when something that is planted reaches its full potential, even if other plantings are much less successful.
In the parable, Jesus imagines a sower scattering seed in a very liberal fashion. Much of it does not come to fruition, because of hungry birds, thin soil, thorny weeds and much else. However, some seed survived all those threats and produced an extraordinary crop. Thirty, sixty, a hundredfold is way above the yield any farmer would expect. At this point the parable loses touch a little with reality. However, perhaps that is the point. Much of Jesus’ preaching has encountered unreceptive hearts. It made little or no impact. The interpretation of the parable, which may reflect the setting of the early church rather than the setting of Jesus’ ministry, suggests reasons why the preaching of the word fails to bear fruit in people’s lives. Yet, Jesus was saying to his disciples that whenever his word is received by hearts that are open and receptive the fruits can be wonderful. In spite of so much indifference and failure, even a small number of receptive hearts can usher in the kingdom of God in ways that defy all normal expectations. We can easily get discouraged by the indifference of many to the message of the gospel. The Lord is reminding us that even in times of great loss, he can nevertheless work powerfully through those whose hearts are receptive to his word. They can be the beachhead in our world for the coming of God’s kingdom.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
