Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 and//www.usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/17:22 EZ 17:22-24 Thus says the Lord GODandI, too, will take from the crest of the cedar,from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot,and plant it on a high and lofty mountainon the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.It shall put forth branches and bear fruit,and become a majestic cedar.Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it,every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.And all the trees of the field shall knowthat I, the LORD,bring low the high tree,lift high the lowly tree,wither up the green tree,and make the withered tree bloom.As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do. Responsorial Psalm and//www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/92and2 PS 92and2-3, 13-14, 15-16 R. (cf. 2a)Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.It is good to give thanks to the LORD,to sing praise to your name, Most High,To proclaim your kindness at dawnand your faithfulness throughout the night.R.Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.They that are planted in the house of the LORDshall flourish in the courts of our God.R.Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.They shall bear fruit even in old agevigorous and sturdy shall they be,Declaring how just is the LORD,my rock, in whom there is no wrong.R.Lord, it is good to give thanks to you. Reading 2 and//www.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/5and6 2 COR 5and6-10 Brothers and sistersandWe are always courageous,although we know that while we are at home in the bodywe are away from the Lord,for we walk by faith, not by sight.Yet we are courageous,and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.Therefore, we aspire to please him,whether we are at home or away.For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,so that each may receive recompense,according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil. Alleluia R.Alleluia, alleluia.The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower.All who come to him will live forever.R.Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel and//www.usccb.org/bible/mark/4:26 MK 4:26-34 Jesus said to the crowdsand This is how it is with the kingdom of Godit is as if a man were to scatter seed on the landand would sleep and rise night and dayand through it all the seed would sprout and grow,he knows not how.Of its own accord the land yields fruit,first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,for the harvest has come.”He said, To what shall we compare the kingdom of God,or what parable can we use for it?It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plantsand puts forth large branches,so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”With many such parableshe spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.Without parables he did not speak to them,but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.