Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 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.”

Your heart, the ground to sow

1. Rocky ground.  In the course of life, at times your heart turns into stone. You become hard because you do not want to suffer. You heart is rocky ground out of fear, fear of suffering, fear of losing, fear of making mistakes. Hard as stone so that you don’t even let God in.

2. Thorny ground. That could be the description of your heart at times. Whoever touches you,  gets hurt. It’s the heart of a rough person, who could be called a “cobra” person because it stings, hurts and poisons whoever gets close to it. Don’t be thorny, let yourself be touched by God, and learn to relate to others without hurting and without competing.

3. Rich soil. This describes a person who is open to life, to life’s surprises. And above all, a person who readily receives the seed of hope, a living hope. You must have at least a little bit of that fertile soil within you.  Even a little bit of willingness to let God dwell in your heart will serve to change your life and this world.

Never forget that something good is on the way!  

God bless you and keep you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.