Today, September 22
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
Readings of the Day
First Letter to the Corinthians 15:35-37.42-49.
Brothers and sisters : Someone may say, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?" You fool! What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind; So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one. So, too, it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being," the last Adam a life-giving spirit. But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.
Psalms 56(55):10c-11.12-13.
Now I know that God is with me. Then do my enemies turn back, when I call upon you. Now I know that God is with me. My foes turn back when I call on you. This I know: God is on my side. In God, in whose promise I glory, in God I trust without fear; what can flesh do against me? I am bound, O God, by vows to you; your thank offerings I will fulfill. For you have rescued me from death, my feet, too, from stumbling; that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 8:4-15.
When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold." After saying this, he called out, "Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear." Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. He answered, "Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that 'they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.' This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved. Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of trial. As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit. But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance."
Daily Reflection
If you ask me what Jesus Christ means by this sower who goes out early to cast his seed over his field then, my brethren, that sower is the good God himself, who began the work of our salvation from the beginning of the world by sending us his prophets before the coming of Christ to teach us what was needed if we would be saved. Not content with sending his servants, he came himself; he marked out the way we should take; he came to make known his holy word. Do you know what a person is like who is not fed by this holy word?... Such a person is like a patient without a doctor, a traveller who is lost and without a guide, a poverty stricken person without means of help. Brethren, it is absolutely impossible to love and please God unless we are fed by this divine word. What can draw us to follow him unless by knowing him? And who enables us to know him, with all his perfections, beauty and love for us, if not the word of God, who teaches us about everything he has done for us and the good things he has in store for us in the next life?