"...the seed is the word of God."

Today's Readings

"...the seed is the word of God."

Reading 1, 1 Tm 6:2c-12

² Those whose masters are believers are not to respect them less because they are brothers; on the contrary, they should serve them all the better, since those who have the benefit of their services are believers and dear to God. This is what you are to teach and urge.
³ Anyone who teaches anything different and does not keep to the sound teaching which is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine which is in accordance with true religion,
⁴ is proud and has no understanding, but rather a weakness for questioning everything and arguing about words. All that can come of this is jealousy, contention, abuse and evil mistrust;
⁵ and unending disputes by people who are depraved in mind and deprived of truth, and imagine that religion is a way of making a profit.
⁶ Religion, of course, does bring large profits, but only to those who are content with what they have.
⁷ We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it;
⁸ but as long as we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.
⁹ People who long to be rich are a prey to trial; they get trapped into all sorts of foolish and harmful ambitions which plunge people into ruin and destruction.
¹⁰ 'The love of money is the root of all evils' and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds.
¹¹ But, as someone dedicated to God, avoid all that. You must aim to be upright and religious, filled with faith and love, perseverance and gentleness.
¹² Fight the good fight of faith and win the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made your noble profession of faith before many witnesses.
¹³ Now, before God, the source of all life, and before Jesus Christ, who witnessed to his noble profession of faith before Pontius Pilate, I charge you
¹⁴ to do all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the appearing of our LordJesus Christ,
¹⁵ who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
¹⁶ who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no human being has seen or is able to see: to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 100:2, 3, 4, 5

² serve Yahweh with gladness, come into his presence with songs of joy!
³ Be sure that Yahweh is God, he made us, we belong to him, his people, the flock of his sheepfold.
⁴ Come within his gates giving thanks, to his courts singing praise, give thanks to him and bless his name!
⁵ For Yahweh is good, his faithful love is everlasting, his constancy from age to age.

 

Gospel, Luke  8:1-3

¹ Now it happened that after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve,
² as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
³ Joanna the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.
⁴ With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, he told this parable:
⁵ 'A sower went out to sow his seed. Now as he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up.
⁶ Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture.
⁷ Some seed fell in the middle of thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
⁸ And some seed fell into good soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.' Saying this he cried, 'Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!'
⁹ His disciples asked him what this parable might mean,
¹⁰ and he said, 'To you is granted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of God; for the rest it remains in parables, so that they may look but not perceive, listen but not understand.
¹¹ 'This, then, is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God.
¹² Those on the edge of the path are people who have heard it, and then the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts in case they should believe and be saved.
¹³ Those on the rock are people who, when they first hear it, welcome the word with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of trial they give up.
¹⁴ As for the part that fell into thorns, this is people who have heard, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life and never produce any crops.
¹⁵ As for the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous heart who have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.