First Reading

Reading from the Book of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 3, 14-17

“Return to me, rebellious children, for I am your master, says the Lord: I will take one from each city, two from each family, and bring them to Zion; I will give them shepherds after my own heart, who will feed them with wisdom and prudence.

Afterward, when you have multiplied and prospered in the land, says the Lord, there will no longer be any need to invoke the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for they will no longer think of it, nor remember it, nor miss it, nor will it occur to them to make another.

In that time, they will call Jerusalem ‘the throne of the Lord,’ all nations will come to it in the name of the Lord, and they will no longer follow the wickedness of their stubborn hearts”.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew

Matthew 13, 18-23

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “Listen to what the parable of the sower means. To every man who hears the word of the Kingdom and does not understand it, the devil comes and takes away what was sown in his heart. This is what the seeds that fell along the path mean.

What was sown on rocky ground refers to the one who hears the word and immediately accepts it with joy; but, being inconstant, he does not let it take root, and as soon as tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he falls away.

What was sown among the thorns represents the one who hears the word, but the cares of life and the seduction of riches choke it, and it bears no fruit.

But what was sown on good soil represents those who hear the word, understand it, and bear fruit: some a hundredfold, others sixty, and others thirty”.