Matthew 13.31-32 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection (Adults, the Gospel this week is quite long and considers three of Jesus' parables. This reflection focuses on the parable that is sandwiched in the middle: the Parable of the Mustard Seed—an essential parable regarding the mystery of life.) In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells three parables. We know that parables make us think. They are stories that Jesus tells to help us understand something very important. The middle parable...

Matthew 13.24-43 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection (Adults, begin by reading the Gospel aloud to the child, unless the child is a very fluent reader. It is a long Gospel, and a little troubling. But there is Good News!) In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells three more parables by the Sea of Galilee: two short parables caught between a longer one and its explanation. The two short parables may satisfy us. He tells the parable of the Mustard Seed, that impossibly tiny seed that...

Matthew 13.24-43 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflection For the third Sunday in a row, Jesus talks about farming and sowing. Two weeks ago, we heard about taking his yoke, and we considered ploughing the earth to make ready the soil for sowing. Last week, we heard about the sower who flings wide the grain so that all the earth might produce wheat. This week we hear three parables: 1) the sower of the Wheat and the sower of the Weeds; 2) the person who sows a mustard seed; 3) the woman...