The lord be with you. A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. This continues from the reading yesterday about the sower who goes out to sow, and the seed falls on different kinds of ground. So, Jesus continued this parable saying to his disciples, Mark well, the parable of the sower. The seed along the path is the man.
Now notice, this is a difficult parable because in your in one instance, our lord talks about the seed, then then he switches and talks about the sower or the man. So, he says that the seed along the path is the man who hears the message from God's reign, but without understanding it. The evil one approaches him to steal away what was sown in his mind. Then, the seed that fell on patches of rock is the man who hears the message and first receives it with joy. But he has no roots.
So, he lasts only for a short time. You see this ambivalency as it goes along? Not easy to figure it all out. When some setback or persecution involving the message occurs, the man soon falters. What was soon among briars is the man who hears the message.
But then worldly anxiety and the lure of money choke it off. Such a one produces no ye. But what was sown on good soil is the man who hears the message and takes it in. He it is who bears a yield of a 100 or 60 or thirtyfold. And this is the gospel of the Lord.