My Wednesday Daily Blessings, January 29, 2014

My Wednesday Daily Blessings

 

Be still, quiet your heart and mind, the Lord is here, loving you, talking to you.............

Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time (Roman Rite Calendar)

First Reading: 2 Sm 7:4-17

That night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:“Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house  from the day on which I led the children of Israel  out of Egypt to the present,  but I have been going about in a tent under cloth. In all my wanderings everywhere among the children of Israel,  did I ever utter a word to any one of the judges  whom I charged to tend my people Israel, to ask:  Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’
“Now then, speak thus to my servant David,  ‘The LORD of hosts has this to say:  It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went,  and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth. I will fix a place for my people Israel;  I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place without further disturbance. Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old,  since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,  I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,  and I will make his Kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. And if he does wrong,  I will correct him with the rod of men and with human chastisements;  but I will not withdraw my favor from him  as I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul,  whom I removed from my presence. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;  your throne shall stand firm forever.’” 
Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 89: 4-5, 27-28, 29-30

"Forever I will maintain my love for my Servant." 

Gospel:  Mk 4:1-20

On another occasion, Jesus 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 roots; 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.”

Meditation: 

What does the parable about seeds and roots say to us about the kingdom of God? Any farmer will attest to the importance of good soil for supplying nutrients for growth. And how does a plant get the necessary food and water it needs except by its roots? The scriptures frequently use the image of fruit-bearing plants or trees to convey the principle of spiritual life and death. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8; see also Psalm 1:3)

Jesus' parable of the sower is aimed at the hearers of his word. There are different ways of accepting God's word and they produce different kinds of fruit accordingly. There is the prejudiced hearer who has a shut mind. Such a person is unteachable and blind to what he or she doesn't want to hear. Then there is the shallow hearer. He or she fails to think things out or think them through; they lack depth. They may initially respond with an emotional reaction; but when it wears off their mind wanders to something else. Another type of hearer is the person who has many interests or cares, but who lacks the ability to hear or comprehend what is truly important. Such a person is too busy to pray or too preoccupied to study and meditate on God's word. Then there is the one whose mind is open. Such a person is at all times willing to listen and to learn. He or she is never too proud or too busy to learn. They listen in order to understand. God gives grace to those who hunger for his word that they may understand his will and have the strength to live according to it.  Do you hunger for God's word?

Prayer: 

"Lord Jesus, faith in your word is the way to wisdom, and to ponder your divine plan is to grow in the truth. Open my eyes to your deeds, and my ears to the sound of your call, that I may understand your will for my life and live according to it".

 

 

Amen.

Source: 

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

**Don Schwager

Author and Writer

Editor of Living Bullwark

Member of the Servants of the Word