St Angela Merici

In the old Covenant,
every priest stood day after day in the Holy Place
serving in the liturgy,
and he repeatedly offered the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins.

Jesus Christ, on the other hand,
after offering a single sacrifice for sins,
sat down forever at the right hand of God.
Now he waits
until his enemies are placed under his feet.
By his single offering,
he has made perfect forever
those whom he sanctifies.
The Holy Spirit also
bears witness to us in Scripture,
because, after saying:
This is the Covenant
that I will make with them
when those days are over,
the Lord says:
I will place my laws in their hearts,
I will write them in their minds,
and I will remember their sins and faults no more.
Now where forgiveness is granted,
there is no longer any offering for sin.

– The Word of the Lord.

Oracle of the Lord to my lord:
"Sit at my right hand,
and I will make your enemies
the footstool of your throne."

From Zion, the Lord presents you
the scepter of your power:
"Rule in the midst of your enemies."

The day your power appears,
you are prince, shining in holiness:
"Like the dew born of the dawn,
I have begotten you."

The Lord has sworn
in an irrevocable oath:
"You are a priest forever
according to the order of King Melchizedek."

At that time,
Jesus began again to teach by the Sea of Galilee.
A very large crowd gathered around him,
so that he got into a boat and sat down.
He was on the sea,
and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the shore.
He taught them many things in parables,
and in his teaching he said to them:
"Listen! Behold, the sower went out to sow.
As he sowed,
some seed fell along the path;
the birds came and ate it all up.
Some seed also fell on rocky ground,
where there was not much soil;
it sprang up at once,
because the soil was shallow;
and when the sun rose, this seed was scorched
and, lacking roots, it withered.
Some seed also fell among thorns,
the thorns grew up, choked it,
and it bore no fruit.
But other seeds fell into good soil;
they bore fruit
and grew and developed,
and they produced
thirty, sixty, a hundredfold."
And Jesus said:
"Whoever has ears to hear,
let him hear!"

When he was alone,
those around him with the Twelve
asked him about the parables.
He said to them:
"To you is given
the mystery of the kingdom of God;
but to those outside,
everything comes in parables.
And so, as the prophet says:
They may look and look with all their eyes,
but they will not see;
they may hear and hear with all their ears,
but they will not understand;
otherwise they would turn back
and receive forgiveness."
He also said to them:
"Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand all the parables?
The sower sows the Word.
There are some who are along the path
where the Word is sown:
when they hear it,
Satan comes at once
and takes away the Word sown in them.
And similarly, there are those who received the seed
on rocky ground:
they, when they hear the Word,
immediately receive it with joy;
but they have no root in themselves,
they are people just for a moment;
then when distress or persecution comes because of the Word,
they quickly fall away.
And there are others who received the seed among the thorns:
they hear the Word,
but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches
and all the other desires
come and choke the Word,
so it bears no fruit.
And there are those who received the seed on good soil:
they hear the Word, accept it,
and bear fruit:
thirty, sixty, a hundredfold."

– Let us acclaim the Word of God.