12 November 2026 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” Mark 4:26–27
Paul prays that the Ephesians may have “the eyes of your heart enlightened” to know the hope of their calling, the riches of their inheritance and the immeasurable power of God, the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him above every power. Christ is head over all things “for the church, which is his body.” Faith is not only knowing about God; it is seeing with the heart.
In Mark's short parable a farmer sows, sleeps and rises, and the seed grows “he does not know how”: first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain. God's kingdom grows quietly, by God's power, often unseen. St John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria, sowed generously among the poor and trusted God with the harvest.
Theme: “The seed would sprout and grow.”
God gives the growth; we sow and give.
“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,” Isaiah 55:10
“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” Mark 4:26–27
Apply: Hand over one worry to God tonight.
“Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119:18
“so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,” Ephesians 1:18
Apply: Read Scripture for ten minutes today.
“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and will be repaid in full.” Proverbs 19:17
“The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.” Mark 4:28
Apply: Give something to the poor in secret.
Sow the word and the alms; God brings the harvest.
Pray to see with the heart.
Take-home resolution: Set aside a weekly sum for the poor.
Dear friends, Paul prays that the eyes of the Ephesians' hearts may be enlightened, so that they may know the hope of their calling, the riches of their inheritance and the immeasurable greatness of God's power, the power that raised Christ from the dead (Ephesians 1:18–20). That power is at work in the Church today.
In the Gospel Jesus speaks of the seed that grows by itself: someone scatters seed on the ground, sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, he does not know how (Mark 4:26–27). The growth of the Kingdom is not in our control; we sow, God gives the growth.
Today the Church remembers St John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria, who called the poor my masters. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord. Today sow one small seed of mercy; God will give the growth. Amen.
Children, a little seed grows into a big plant even when we do not see it. God will make big even a small good deed you do today!
Lord of the harvest, the seed of your word grows by your power. Enlighten the eyes of our hearts, make us patient sowers, and generous like St John the Almsgiver. Amen.
Paul prays that the eyes of the heart may be opened to see God's power at work in the risen Christ and in his Church. Mark's short parable shows the same power working in silence: the seed grows by itself, night and day, while the farmer sleeps. The Church grows by God's power, not by our anxiety.
Setting.
After the great blessing of 1:3–14, Paul gives thanks and prays for his readers. In Greek the prayer runs on as one long sentence. It moves from the readers' faith and love, to hope, inheritance and power, and ends with Christ raised, seated in heaven and given as head to the Church.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,” (1:18)
“And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,” (1:22)
An echo of Psalm 8:6. The risen Christ is Lord of all creation, and he exercises his lordship for the good of the Church.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that Christ is the head of the Body, and that the Church lives from him, in him and for him (CCC 792–795, in substance). The early Church called baptism itself “enlightenment”, because it opens the eyes of the heart (CCC 1216).
Setting.
This short parable is found only in Mark. It stands in the chapter of parables by the sea (Mark 4), after the sower and the lamp and before the mustard seed. Jesus' ministry looked small and met opposition; the parable says that God's Kingdom is already growing, though no one sees how.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” (4:27)
The farmer is not lazy; he has sown. But he cannot make the seed grow. This frees us from the anxiety of thinking that everything depends on us.
“The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.” (4:28)
Growth has stages. Patience belongs to faith.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council compares the Kingdom to a seed: the word of the Lord, sown in the field, grows by its own power until the harvest (Lumen Gentium 5, in substance). The Church sows and trusts; the growth is God's.