Friday, week 3 in Ordinary Time

Brothers,
remember those early days
when you had just received the light of Christ:
at that time you endured the hard struggle of suffering,
sometimes being made a public spectacle through insults and abuse,
sometimes in solidarity with those who were so treated.
Indeed, you showed compassion
to those who were in prison;
you accepted joyfully
having your property confiscated,
because you knew you had a better and lasting possession.
Do not lose your confidence;
through it you will be richly rewarded.
For you need endurance
to fulfill the will of God
and so obtain the fulfillment of the promises.
For in just a little, a very little while,
the one who is to come will come,
he will not delay.
My righteous one by faith shall live;
but if he shrinks back,
I take no pleasure in him.
But we are not of those who shrink back
and are destroyed,
but of those who have faith
and preserve their soul.

– The word of the Lord.

Trust in the Lord and do good,
dwell in the land and remain faithful;
find your delight in the Lord:
he will grant your heart's desires.

Commit your way to the Lord,
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make your justice shine like the dawn,
your right like the noonday sun.

When the Lord guides a person's steps,
they are secure and he is pleased with their way.
If they stumble, they do not fall
because the Lord holds them by the hand.

The Lord is the salvation of the just,
their refuge in times of trouble.
The Lord helps and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

At that time,
Jesus said to the crowds:
“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground:
night and day,
whether he sleeps or gets up,
the seed sprouts and grows,
he knows not how.
Of itself the land produces first the blade,
then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe,
he puts in the sickle,
because the harvest time has come.”

He also said:
“To what shall we compare the kingdom of God?
With what parable can we present it?
It is like a mustard seed:
when sown in the ground,
it is the smallest of all the seeds.
But when it is sown,
it grows and becomes the largest of the garden plants;
and it puts out large branches,
so that the birds of the sky
can nest in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them,
as much as they could understand.
He did not speak to them without a parable,
but explained everything in private to his disciples.

– Let us acclaim the word of God.