Saturday Of the Twenty-Fourth Week In Ordinary Time
The Seed and the Soil of the Heart
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: C | Lectionary Cycle: 1
Introduction
How will the dead rise? A person dies, but dies like a seed, and from that seed a new plant is born and rises in glory. At the end of his letter, Paul gives Timothy a program of life to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.
We hear today Luke’s version of the parable of the seed. In Jesus’ original intent, it pictured the difficult growth of the kingdom towards its final accomplishment, of which also Paul speaks in the first reading. Luke applies it in the explanation of the parable to the reception of the word of God and the life of faith in people’s hearts. God sows the seed, but people receive it differently and react to it in various ways, for it is hard to let it grow and remain loyal to it in the humble and sometimes difficult realities of daily life. How does God’s word grow and bear fruit in us?
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
We thank you for speaking to us
the word of your Son, Jesus Christ
and sowing in our hearts and minds
the seeds of faith.
Open our ears to his word, day after day,
that it may grow in us
in pain and effort and joy,
that it be rooted ever more deeply
and bear the fruits of justice and love,
until the final coming of Jesus Christ,
Your Son and our Lord forever.
First Reading
whom God will bring about at the proper time; he, the magnificent sovereign, King of kings and Lord of lords.
To him, the only immortal, who lives in unapproachable light and whom no one has ever seen or can see, be honor and power forever and ever. Amen!
Responsorial Psalm
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Sing joyfully to the LORD all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise;
Give thanks to him; bless his name.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
For he is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. Come with joy into the presence of the Lord.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As a large crowd gathered and people came to Jesus from every town, he began teaching them with a story:
But some seed fell on good soil and produced fruit a hundred times as much!”
And Jesus cried out:
“Listen then, if you have ears to hear!”
The disciples asked him:
“What does this story mean?”
And Jesus replied:
“To you, it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to others, it is presented in the form of stories or parables:
so that, seeing, they may not perceive;
and hearing, they may not understand.
Now, here’s the main point of the parable:
Those along the wayside are people who hear it, but immediately, the devil comes and takes the word from their minds, for he doesn’t want them to believe and be saved.
Among the thorns are people who hear the word, but as they go their way, they are choked by worries, riches, and the pleasures of life; they bring no fruit to maturity.
The good soil, instead, is people who receive the word and keep it, in a gentle and generous mind, and, persevering patiently, they bear fruit.
Prayers of the Faithful
– Lord, give wisdom and courage to all teachers in the Church, that they may help us understand your word and proclaim it as Good News, we pray:
– Lord, inspire by your word all the mighty of this earth, that they may join forces to bring to all lasting peace, food and human dignity, we pray:
– Lord, make us receptive to your word. Free us from banality and fear for our security and certainties. Give us new insight in your message, that we may live as we believe, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
accept in this bread and this wine
our eagerness to receive your Son
and to listen to his word
with noble and generous hearts.
Give him to us as our companion on the road,
that he may keep speaking to us
in people and in the events of life
and that we may understand him
and bear a rich harvest
that lasts for ever and ever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
let our words and deeds
echo the message of your Son
and fill us with his life.
Make our human words reliable
and serve unity and the truth.
Pour out your compassion in them,
your love and your joy,
that they may bring strength,
insight and friendship,
by the power of Jesus Christ,
your living word and our Lord for ever.
Blessing
Let the seed of God’s word fall in the good soil of our eager and receptive hearts, and may almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Change of Hearts
The parable of the sower presents us with four kinds of hearts: a shallow heart, a hardened heart, an overcrowded one, and a fertile, open, welcoming heart. The word of God that falls on the shallow wayside is soon lost. In a hardened, rocky heart, the word simply cannot grow root. The word of God is suffocated within a crowded, thorny heart. In a fertile, open, and welcoming heart, the word thrives and produces much fruit. The consoling news is that the gospel does not foreclose the possibility of conversion of one kind of heart to another: The first three kinds of hearts can anytime choose to cooperate with the grace of God to become fertile and receptive to the word of God, as did the heart of the “good thief” crucified along with Christ. At his last moment, his heart opened up, received the word, and woke up in the Paradise with Christ.
Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022; written by Fr. Paulson Velyannoor, CMF
20 September 2025
The Seed and the Soil of the Heart
Jesus speaks to us today in a parable that everyone in His time could understand. Perhaps He was looking at farmers scattering seed across the fields of Galilee. Some seed falls on the hardened path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns, and some on good soil. The difference is not in the seed, but in the ground. The Word of God is always fruitful, but its harvest depends on the heart that receives it.
The hard path is the closed heart. Prejudice, pride, or indifference can make us incapable of receiving God’s Word. The rocky ground is the shallow heart. It welcomes the Word with joy but lacks roots, collapsing when trials come. The thorny ground is the distracted heart. Even good things—work, success, comfort—can choke the Word, leaving no room for God. Finally, the good soil is the heart that listens, treasures the Word, and lives it in action.
But there is also encouragement here. Jesus himself was rejected in the synagogues, opposed by the scribes and Pharisees. The disciples could easily grow discouraged. So He reminds them: a farmer expects some seed to be lost, yet he keeps sowing, knowing that in time there will be a harvest. In the same way, no setback can defeat God’s plan.
This parable calls us to self-examination. What kind of soil is my heart today? Do I allow the Word to take root, or do I let worries and busyness crowd it out? At the same time, it is a call to hope. Even when we see little fruit, God is at work. The harvest is sure, because the seed is His Word and the soil belongs to His mercy.
Let us not despair. Let us keep sowing, keep listening, and keep trusting that God’s Word will bear fruit in us and in the world.