Daily Readings - Wed Jan 29 2025
Hebrews
11And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.12But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,13waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.15And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,16"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"17then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."18Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Mark
1Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.2And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:3"Listen! A sower went out to sow.4And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil.6And when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.7Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.8And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."9And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."10And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.11And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables,12so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven."13And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?14The sower sows the word.15And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.16And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.17And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.18And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,19but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.20But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
Sermon
The readings today invite us to reflect on the nature of God’s plan and our response to it. In the first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, we hear about the priesthood of Christ and how his single sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to atone for all sins. This is contrasted with the repeated sacrifices of the old covenant, which could never fully take away sin. The author emphasizes that Christ’s sacrifice is eternal and complete, and through it, God’s laws are written on our hearts and minds, forgiving our sins once and for all.
In the Gospel, Mark presents us with the parable of the sower, a well-known teaching of Jesus. The parable describes how the Word of God is sown in different hearts, yielding different results. Some hear the Word but lose it immediately; others receive it with joy but falter in times of trial; still, others allow worldly concerns to choke the Word. Only those who hear the Word and nurture it in good soil bear fruit abundantly. Jesus explains that the parable is a mystery given to his disciples to understand, while others may see and hear but not perceive, lest they turn and be forgiven.
These readings are deeply connected. The sacrifice of Christ, as described in Hebrews, makes possible the forgiveness of sins and the new covenant written on our hearts. In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us how to respond to this gift. The parable of the sower challenges us to examine the soil of our own hearts. Are we allowing the Word of God to take root and bear fruit, or are we letting distractions, trials, or worldly desires choke it out? The moral lesson is clear: we must cultivate openness, perseverance, and detachment from worldly things to receive God’s Word fully and live it out in love. May we strive to be the good soil, bearing fruit in abundance for the kingdom of God.