Responsorial Psalm
You are good and forgiving,
O Lord, caring for those who call on you.
Listen, O Lord, to my prayer,
hear the voice of my pleading.
All the nations you have made will come;
they will worship before you,
O Lord, and bring glory to your name.
For you are great,
and wonderful are your deeds;
you alone are God.
But you, O Lord God, are merciful,
slow to anger, loving and faithful.
Turn to me, take pity on me;
give your strength to your servant,
and save the child of your handmaid.
2nd. READING (Rom 8, 26-27)
We are weak, but the Spirit comes to help us. How to ask? And what shall we ask for?
We do not know, but the spirit intercedes for us without words, as if with groans. And
He who sees inner secrets knows the desires of the Spirit, for he asks for the holy ones
what is pleasing to God.
GOSPEL (Mt 13, 24-43)
Jesus told them another parable, "The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a man
who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and
sowed weeds among the wheat and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain,
the weeds also appeared. Then the servants of the owner came to him and said: 'Sir,
was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?'
He answered them: 'This is the work of an enemy.' They asked him: 'Do you want us
to go and pull up the weeds?' He told them: 'No, when you pull up the weeds, you
might uproot the wheat with them. Let them just grow together until harvest; and at
harvest time I will say to the workers: Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and
burn them; then gather the wheat into my barn." Jesus put another parable before them,
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, that a man took and sowed in his field.
It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it has fully grown, it is bigger than any
garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches." He told them another
parable, "The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast which a woman took and buried in
three measures of flour until the whole mass of dough began to rise." Jesus taught all
this to the crowds by means of parables; he did not say anything to them without using
a parable. So what the Prophet had said was fulfilled: I will speak in parables. I will
proclaim things kept secret since the beginning of the world. Then he sent the crowds
away and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, "Explain to us
the parable of the weeds in the field." Jesus answered them, "The one who sows the
good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed are the people of
the Kingdom; the weeds are those who follow the evil one. The enemy who sows
them is the devil; the harvest is the end of time and the workers are the angels. Just as
the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of time. The Son
of Man will send his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom all that is
scandalous and all who do evil. And these will be thrown in the blazing furnace,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the just will shine like the
sun in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears, then hear.