27 January 2027 · Latin Rite
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“And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”” Mark 4:20
Hebrews contrasts the priests of the old covenant, who stand “day after day… offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins”, with Christ, who “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins” and then “sat down at the right hand of God”. The priest who sits has finished his work. “By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” And God's promise through Jeremiah is fulfilled: “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” The Mass does not repeat this sacrifice; it makes the one sacrifice present.
In the Gospel Jesus teaches from a boat, and the first great parable is the sower. Seed falls on the path, on rock, among thorns and on good soil. Jesus explains: Satan takes the word away; trouble makes the shallow fall away; “the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word”. But those on good soil “hear the word and accept it and bear fruit”. St Angela Merici, founder of the Ursulines, gave her life to teaching girls the faith, sowing the word in young hearts. Our task is to be good soil and good sowers.
Theme: “They hear the word and accept it and bear fruit.”
Christ's single sacrifice, and the soil of our hearts.
“The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”” Psalm 110:4
“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14
Apply: Attend Mass this week knowing it makes Calvary present.
“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist.” Proverbs 23:4
“but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.” Mark 4:19
Apply: Reduce screen time to make room for Scripture.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10–11
“And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”” Mark 4:20
Apply: Share one verse with a young person, as St Angela did.
Christ's sacrifice is complete; his word is sown.
Let us be good soil and good sowers.
Take-home resolution: Read the day's Gospel every morning this week.
Dear friends, Hebrews tells us that the old priests stood day after day, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, and sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:11–12).
A priest who sits has finished his work. By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). The Mass makes this one sacrifice present for us.
In the Gospel Jesus tells of the sower. Some seed is choked by thorns: the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things (Mark 4:19). But on good soil the word bears fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
St Angela Merici sowed the word in the hearts of young girls. Let us clear our thorns, be good soil, and sow the word for others. Amen.
Children, Jesus says our hearts are like soil. When we listen to God's word and do it, it grows like a big plant!
Lord Jesus, by your single offering you have perfected those who are sanctified. Make our hearts good soil for your word, free from the thorns of worry and wealth, and through the prayers of St Angela Merici make us sowers of your word for the young. Amen.
Two things that seem opposite stand side by side today. Hebrews says that Christ's work is finished: one offering, and he has sat down. Mark says that the word is still being sown, and that much depends on the ground it falls on. The two belong together. What Christ has done is complete and cannot be repeated, while our receiving of it takes a lifetime. The key words are single, word and hear. Psalm 110, the psalm of the day, is the very text Hebrews leans on when it speaks of Christ seated at God's right hand.
Setting.
This passage closes the long central argument of Hebrews about Christ the high priest (chapters 7–10). The author has compared the sacrifices of the old covenant with the offering of Christ, and now he gathers the whole argument into one picture: a priest who stands and a priest who sits.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,”” (10:11–12)
The contrast is in the posture. To stand is to be still on duty. To sit is to have finished, and at God's right hand it is also to reign. The words come from Psalm 110:1.
“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” (10:14)
This verse holds both sides of the Christian life: what Christ has done once, and what is still happening in us.
““I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”” (10:17)
Hebrews quoted the whole of Jeremiah's promise in chapter 8 (8:8–12) and now recalls only its two central lines. The new covenant reaches the heart, and God's forgiveness is complete.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that the redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all, and yet made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church (CCC 1545). So the Mass does not add to the Cross or repeat it. As the Council of Trent says, the victim is one and the same, and only the manner of offering is different (CCC 1367). When we read of the old sacrifices we remember that Hebrews is a Christian preacher's argument about Christ, and that the Church honours God's covenant with Israel, which was never revoked (CCC 121, 839).
Setting.
This is the first long block of Jesus' teaching in Mark (4:1–34). Chapter 3 has shown that people respond to him in very different ways, some with faith and some with suspicion. Now Jesus sits in a boat, in the posture of a teacher, with the crowd on the shore, and he tells a story that explains why the same word has such different results.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““Listen! A sower went out to sow.” (4:3)
The first word of the parable is a command. Everything in this chapter turns on how we hear.
“Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”” (4:8)
Three kinds of loss are followed by three kinds of harvest. A hundredfold is the harvest of Isaac in Genesis 26:12, a mark of God's blessing. The sower is not discouraged by the waste. The harvest is greater than the losses.
“but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.” (4:19)
The thorns are the most ordinary danger of all. No one here rejects the word. It is simply crowded out.
How the Church reads it.
St Gregory the Great, preaching on this parable, remarks that no one would have believed him had he dared to call riches thorns, but the Lord himself does so, because they prick the soul with care (in substance). The Second Vatican Council says that the Church receives the bread of life from the one table of the word of God and the Body of Christ (Dei Verbum 21). Each Liturgy of the Word is therefore a sowing, and the homily and the silence after it are part of the care of the soil.
Does Jesus use parables so that people will not understand and be forgiven (4:12)?
He is quoting Isaiah 6:9–10, where God sends the prophet to a people who will refuse to hear. The Bible often speaks of a sad result as if it were part of God's purpose, since nothing lies outside his plan. It does not mean that God wishes anyone to be lost. The Catechism explains that the parables invite everyone to the feast of the Kingdom and also ask for a choice; to those who stay “outside”, everything remains a riddle (CCC 546). The disciples do not understand either, and they are not rejected. They stay close and ask.