Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 and//www.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/7and4 2 SM 7and4-17 That night the LORD spoke to Nathan and saidand Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORDandShould you build me a house to dwell in?I have not dwelt in a housefrom the day on which I led the children of Israelout 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 judgeswhom I charged to tend my people Israel, to askandWhy have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now then, speak thus to my servant David,‘The LORD of hosts has this to sayandIt was I who took you from the pastureand from the care of the flockto 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 IsraelI will plant them so that they may dwell in their placewithout 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 menand with human chastisementsbut I will not withdraw my favor from himas I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul,whom I removed from my presence.Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before meyour throne shall stand firm forever.’”Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David. Responsorial Psalm and//www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/89and4 PS 89and4-5, 27-28, 29-30 R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant. I have made a covenant with my chosen oneI have sworn to David my servantandI will make your dynasty stand foreverand establish your throne through all ages.” R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant. He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father,my God, the Rock that brings me victory!’I myself make him firstborn,Most High over the kings of the earth.” R.For ever I will maintain my love for my servant. Forever I will maintain my love for himmy covenant with him stands firm.I will establish his dynasty forever,his throne as the days of the heavens.” R.For ever I will maintain my love for my servant. Alleluia R.Alleluia, alleluia.The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sowerall who come to him will live for ever.R.Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel and//www.usccb.org/bible/mark/4and1 MK 4and1-20 On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.A very large crowd gathered around himso 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 itand 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 Twelvequestioned 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 thatthey 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 onceand 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 itand bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”