January 28, 2026
Memorial of Saint Thomas
Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 319
Reading
1
That night the
LORD spoke to Nathan and said:
"Go, tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD:
Should you build me a house to dwell in?
I have not dwelt in a house
from the day on which I led the children of Israel
out of Egypt to the present,
but I have been going about in a tent under cloth.
In all my wanderings everywhere among the children of Israel,
did I ever utter a word to any one of the judges
whom I charged to tend my people Israel, to ask:
Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'
"Now then, speak thus to my servant David,
'The LORD of hosts has this to say:
It was I who took you from the pasture
and from the care of the flock
to be commander of my people Israel.
I have been with you wherever you went,
and I have destroyed all your enemies before you.
And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth.
I will fix a place for my people Israel;
I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place
without further disturbance.
Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old,
since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel.
I will give you rest from all your enemies.
The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you.
And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his Kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.
And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
And if he does wrong,
I will correct him with the rod of men
and with human chastisements;
but I will not withdraw my favor from him
as I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul,
whom I removed from my presence.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.'"
Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (29a) For
ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will make your dynasty stand forever
and establish your throne through all ages.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock that brings me victory!’
I myself make him firstborn,
Most High over the kings of the earth.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
“Forever I will maintain my love for him;
my covenant with him stands firm.
I will establish his dynasty forever,
his throne as the days of the heavens.”
R. For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
On another
occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
A very large crowd gathered around him
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables,
and in the course of his instruction he said to them,
"Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
He added, "Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear."
And when he was alone,
those present along with the Twelve
questioned him about the parables.
He answered them,
"The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven."
Jesus said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012826.cfm
Commentary on 2
Samuel 7:4-17
David is now comfortably set up in his new palace in
Jerusalem and there is relative peace as his enemies are, for the time being,
lying low. It is in this situation that David begins to think of the Ark of the
Lord. In a verse prior to the reading today, he approaches the prophet Nathan
and says:
See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the Ark of
God stays in a tent. (2 Sam 7:2)
Nathan seems to agree and tells David:
Go, do all that you have in mind, for the Lord is with
you.
(2 Sam 7:3)
In this, the prophet is not quite right because that very
night the Lord had a prophetic message for Nathan to pass on to David.
The prophecy is built round a contrast—David is not to build
a house (a temple) for God; rather he is to build a ‘house’, that is, a
dynasty. The essence of the prophecy is the perpetuity of the Davidic house and
this is how David understands it. And that is reflected in the Responsorial
Psalm for today:
I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to my servant David:
I will establish your descendants forever
and build your throne for all generations…
Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
I will establish his line forever
and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
(Ps 89:3-4,28-29)
Up to this, every experience David has had points clearly to
a special calling to be the shepherd of his people. He has led his people to
victory over their enemies. All this is part of establishing David as head of a
dynasty giving security to his people for generations to come.
The prophecy, then, stretches beyond Solomon, David’s
immediate successor, to whom it is applied a little later in the passage and in
other Old Testament texts. It also points to a very special descendant who will
enjoy God’s special favour, namely, the Messiah Jesus. And the Acts of the
Apostles explicitly applies the text to Jesus. Peter, when addressing the
crowds on the day of Pentecost says:
Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our
ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to
this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to
him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. (Acts
2:29-30)
First, in his message to Nathan, God questions whether David
should be the one to build a house for the Ark and second, since the days when
the Israelites left Egypt the Lord has never had a house and has always lived
in a tent. And never once in all those years did the Lord ever ask why his
people had never built him a proper house. Of course, David’s intentions were
commendable, but God had other tasks for him. His gift and his mission was to
fight the Lord’s battles until Israel was securely at rest in its land.
David misunderstood the Lord’s priorities. He was reflecting
the pagan notion that the gods were mainly interested in human beings only as
builders and maintainers of their temples and as practitioners of their cult.
Instead, the Lord had raised up rulers in Israel to shepherd his people, and
that is why David the shepherd boy was brought from one kind of pasture to one
of a much more important kind.
The Lord, through his prophet, implies that the main
priority is to set up God’s people in security:
I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will
plant them, so that they may live in their own place and be disturbed no more,
and evildoers shall afflict them no more…
And, instead of David making a house for the Lord, it is the
Lord who is going to make a house for David. In fact, God has been building up
Israel ever since the days of Abraham, and now he commits himself to build
David’s royal house so that the promise to Israel may be fulfilled—secure rest
in the promised land.
It is God’s work that brings about David’s kingdom. Like
those made with Noah, Abram and Phinehas, this covenant with David is
unconditional, grounded only in God’s firm and gracious will. It will find its
ultimate fulfilment in the kingship of Christ, who was born of the tribe of
Judah and the house of David.
After David’s death, a son (Solomon) will be his heir and
the beginning of a secure dynasty that will last for ever. It is Solomon “who
shall build a house for my name”. It is when Israel is at rest, and David’s
dynasty in the person of his son is secure, that the Ark will find a deserving
resting place, the great and magnificent Temple that Solomon built.
And God will act towards Solomon as a father to a son. If he
does wrong, the son will be chastised, but unlike the case of Saul, God will
never withdraw his favour from him or his successors. In Jesus Christ this
promise will find its ultimate fulfilment.
And then there is the final promise:
Your [David’s] house and your kingdom
shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
The promise of an everlasting kingdom for the house of David
became the focal point for many later prophecies and powerfully influenced the
development of the Messianic hope in Israel. In the years following, there
would be many ups and downs, much good and much evil down the centuries, but
the promise held good with its culmination in the coming of Jesus, the Son of
David. In fact, through Jesus, the descendant of David, the House of David
continues and will continue to the end of time.
Looking at this reading, we can also reflect on the place of
our church building in our Christian life. In the early Church there were,
paradoxically no church buildings, but many churches—in the sense of
Christ-centred communities.
We need always to remember that, although our church
buildings have a very important symbolic and sacramental meaning, the real
presence of Christ is in his Body, in his people. For us Christians, our Temple
is the temple of our own bodies, individually and collectively.
As we mentioned earlier, if the city of Rome and all in it
were to be obliterated by a massive earthquake, it would not make a jot of
difference to the continuing existence of the Church. The same can be said for
our own parishes. And, in fact, we see parishes being closed down and new ones
being established all the time.
Another point for reflection might be our understanding of
what God wants from us. David was sure that he should build a house as a
dwelling place for God, but the Lord had very different ideas. Do I really know
what God wants me to be doing? Are my plans the same as his? Maybe we should
spend a little time today thinking about this.
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Commentary on
Mark 4:1-20
Today we see Jesus teaching by the seashore. The crowds were
so great that Jesus had to use one of his disciples’ boats and preach from
there. Generally speaking, Jesus teaches the crowds near the sea, but
when teaching his disciples, he tends to go to a mountain or secluded place.
For the first time in Mark, we come across a number of
parables spoken by Jesus. Before we go on to discuss the parable in
today’s passage, let us make a few remarks about parables in
general. In the New Testament the word ‘parable’ represents a wide
range of literary forms. In general, however, it can be said that a
parable is a way of illustrating a point of Jesus’ teaching through an
illustration from daily life. Sometimes there may be an exaggerated
element only to make the point of the parable more striking.
Strictly speaking, the difference between a parable and an
allegory is that the former just makes one point using a comparison, while in
the latter each of the items in the story has a symbolism of its own.
Generally speaking, Jesus’ parables were of the first kind, but allegory cannot
always be excluded. We will see that today’s parable of the sower
is a parable in the strict sense, but when Jesus explains the parable to his
disciples it is made to look more like an allegory. That said, this is
not a point to argue about.
The parable of the sower, as presented here, is in three parts.
The first part seems to be close to what Jesus actually said and, like most
parables, just makes one point. That point is that God’s sowing
represents his plan to build the Kingdom and to make his reign effective in the
world. Although it may seem to meet with partial or total failure in some
areas, overall it will certainly succeed. God’s plans will not be
frustrated.
It is a parable to induce confidence, especially for a tiny
Church in times of difficulty and persecution (which Mark’s Church would have
been experiencing). The parable concludes with the call:
If you have ears to hear, then hear!
Listening is a very important element in our relationship
with God and Jesus. In the gospel, listening involves:
- actually
hearing the message,
- understanding
the message,
- assimilating
the message into one’s own thinking, and…
Once we have reached the third stage, the fourth and final
stage will inevitably follow:
- acting
on the message.
Once a way of seeing life becomes part of us, then we will
want to behave accordingly. We will not have to force ourselves to
act. This is the freedom that comes with being one with Christ and his
Way.
The next part of the passage may seem strange. It
seems to say that Jesus spoke in parables so that those outside his own circle
would not be able to understand. That does not really make sense.
Was his message not for all? In fact, Jesus is quoting a rather cynical
passage from the Hebrew (Old) Testament about people who keep looking, but
never see and keep listening, but never hear (see Is 6:9-10). Why?
Because if they did see and understand, they might be converted and change, but
they do not want to be converted or to change. They have already made up
their minds. We certainly meet people like that today.
In fact, the parables, using graphic images from familiar
scenes in daily life, were spoken precisely to help people understand the
message of Jesus. But as we have seen, there were those who simply did
not want to see even the obvious.
Finally, there is another interpretation of the parable in
response to a request by the disciples for an explanation. The explanation
somewhat changes the emphasis on the parable itself and it becomes more an
allegory than a parable. In the original parable the emphasis is really on
the Sower, i.e. God, and the ultimate success of his work.
In this alternate interpretation, the emphasis is on
the soil in which the seed is trying to grow. It describes
different responses to the Word of God (the seed). We have to realise
first that, in Palestine at this time, the sowing took place before the
ploughing. Then we need to visualise a rock-strewn field lying fallow
since the last harvest. There are public paths going across it.
Weeds and brambles have grown up in parts. This is where the farmer
will scatter his seed.
Some seed falls on the barren paths. It gets no
welcome and never even begins to grow. Birds come and eat it up.
This refers to those who come in contact with the message of Jesus, but it
never even gets a start in their lives.
Some falls on the rocks, where in the crevices there may be
some moisture. Though the seed begins to grow, it soon runs out of
moisture and nourishment, and it withers and dies. This soil is compared
to those who embrace Christianity with enthusiasm, but once they meet with some
opposition or persecution (which would have been common in the early Church),
they fall away.
Some seed falls among the weeds and brambles. It takes
root, but the weeds are growing too, and they eventually choke out the
wheat. This is a picture of the Christian who gets caught up in the
prevailing (materialistic) values of the surrounding society and ends up
producing nothing.
Finally, there is seed which falls on fertile soil and
yields a good harvest in varying amounts. These are the Christians who
really ‘hear’ the word (see above) and produce much fruit.
Notice that to be a Christian, it is not enough just to be
fervent and observant, but one also must be productive:
…every good tree bears good fruit…Every tree that does
not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
(Matt 7:17,19)
Perhaps we may reflect today which of the above categories
best describes us.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2034g/
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
All-powerful and ever-living God,
direct your love that is within us, that our efforts in the name of your Son
may bring mankind to unity and peace. We ask this through our Lord Jesus
Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Mark 4: 1-20
Again, he began to teach them by the
lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on
the water and sat there. The whole crowd were at the lakeside on land. He taught
them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to
them, 'Listen! Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it happened that, as he
sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and
ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and at
once sprang up, because there was no depth of earth; and when the sun came up
it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. Some seed fell
into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. And
some seeds fell into rich soil, grew tall and strong, and produced a good crop;
the yield was thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.' And he said, 'Anyone who has
ears for listening should listen!'
When he was alone, the Twelve, together with
the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant. He told them,
'To you is granted the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are
outside everything comes in parables, so that they may look and look, but never
perceive; listen and listen, but never understand; to avoid changing their ways
and being healed.' He said to them, 'Do you not understand this parable? Then
how will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the
word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have
no sooner heard it than Satan at once comes and carries away the word that was
sown in them.
Similarly, those who are sown on patches of
rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with
joy. But they have no root deep down and do not last; should some trial come,
or some persecution on account of the word, at once they fall away.
Then there are others who are sown in thorns.
These have heard the word, but the worries of the world, the lure of riches and
all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing.
And there are those who have been sown in rich soil; they hear
the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a
hundredfold.'
Reflection
•
Sitting in the boat, Jesus taught the crowds. In
these verses, Mark describes the way in which Jesus teaches the crowd: on the
seaside, sitting in the boat, many people around to listen to him. Jesus was
not a cultured person (Jn 7: 15). He had not frequented the Superior School of
Jerusalem. He had come from inside, from the countryside, from Nazareth. He was
someone who was unknown, in part, he was a craftsman, in part a country man.
Without asking permission from the authority, he began to teach the people. He
spoke in a very different way. People liked to listen to him.
•
By means of the parables, Jesus helped people to
perceive the mysterious presence of the Kingdom in the things of life. A
parable is a comparison. He uses the known and visible things of life to
explain the invisible and unknown things of the Kingdom of God. For example,
the people from Galilee understood when he spoke of seeds, of soil, of rain, of
the sun, of the salt, of flowers, of fish, of the harvest, etc. And Jesus,
precisely, uses in his parable, these things which were known to the people, to
explain the mystery of the Kingdom.
•
The parable of the sower is a picture of the
life of the farmers. At that time, it was not easy to get a livelihood from
agriculture. The land was full of stones. There were many bushes, little rain,
much sun. Besides, many times, people in order to shorten the distance passed
through the fields and stepped on the plants. (Mk 2: 23). But in spite of that,
every year, the farmer sowed and planted, trustful in the force of the seed, in
the generosity of nature. • He who has ears to listen,
let him listen! Jesus begins the parable saying: “Listen! (Mk 4: 3). Now, at
the end, he says: “He who has ears to listen, let him listen!” The way to
understand the parable is research, seeking, “Trying to understand!” The
parable does not give us everything ready-made, but induces those who listen to
think and discover, basing themselves on the lived experience which they have
of the seed. It induces to creativity and to participation. It is not a
doctrine that arrives ready-made to be taught and decorated. The Parable does
not give bottled water but rather leads one to the fountain or source. The
farmer who listens, says: Seed in the ground, I know what that is!” But Jesus
says that this has something to do with the Kingdom of God. What would this be?
And one can already guess the long conversations of the crowd. The parable
affects the people, moves them and impels them to listen to nature and to think
about life.
•
Jesus explains the parable to his disciples. At
home, alone with Jesus, the disciples want to know the meaning of the parable.
They do not understand it. Jesus was surprised before their ignorance (Mk 4:
13) and responds with a difficult and mysterious phrase. He tells his
disciples: “To you is granted the secret of the Kingdom of God; but to those
who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may look and look
and never perceive, listen and listen but never understand, to avoid changing
their ways and being healed!” This phrase leads people to ask themselves. But,
then for what good is the parable? To clarify or to hide? Perhaps Jesus uses
parables in order that people may continue to live in ignorance and does not
reach conversion? Certainly not! Because in another point Mark says that Jesus
used parables “according to what they could understand” (Mk 4: 33).
•
The parable reveals and hides at the same time!
It reveals to “those who are inside”, who accept Jesus, the Messiah, the
Servant. It hides for those who insist in considering him the Messiah, the
glorious King. They understand the images of the parable, but they do not
succeed to get the significance. • The explanation of the
parable in its different parts. One after another, Jesus explains the parts of
the parable, the seed, the soil up to the harvest time. Some scholars hold that
this explanation was added later and would have been given by some communities.
This is well possible! Because in the bud of the parable there is already the
flower of the explanation. Bud and flower, both have the same origin which is
Jesus. For this reason, we also can continue to reflect and discover other
beautiful things in the parable. Once, a person asked in community: “Jesus has
said that we should be salt. For what does salt serve?” This was discussed and
at the end there were discovered more than ten diverse purposes that salt can
have! Then these significances were applied to the life of the community, and
it was discovered that to be salt is something difficult and demanding. The
parable functioned! The same for what concerns the seed. Everybody has some
experience of the seed.
Personal Questions
•
What experience do you have with seeds? How does
this help you to understand the Good News better?
•
What type of soil are you?
Concluding Prayer
Fix your gaze on Yahweh and your face
will grow bright, you will never hang your head in shame. (Ps 34: 5)
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