And he said ‘The Kingdom of God is as if –
a man threw seed on the ground, 
and he sleeps and rises , night and day

And the seed sprouts
and it grows tall
in such away that he does not know how.

On its own the land bears fruit,
first a stalk
then a head of grain,
then the full grain in the head.

When the fruit is ripe,
immediately he sends the sickle, 
because the harvest has come.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

And he said to them:
Does a lamp come so that it is put under a basket or a bed
or is it put on a lampstand?

For nothing is hidden unless it is to be shown,
and nothing happens secretly except to come to be shown. 

If anyone has ears to hear, hear!

And he said to them ‘Watch what you hear:

by the measure you measure out, it will be measured out to you, 
            and it will be added to you. 

For whoever has, (more) will be given to him. 
And whoever does not have, whatever he has will be taken away from him. 

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

And when it happened that he was alone, those around him, with the Twelve, would ask him about the parables.

And he said to them,
‘To you has been given the secret of the Kingdom of God.
But to those outside everything is in parables, so that

Those who look look and do not see.
And those who hear hear and do not understand, 
Lest they will turn to God and be forgiven. (Isa 6:9-10)

He said to them:
Do you not know this parable, and how will you know all the parables?
A sower sows the word. 

These the ones by the road:
where the word is sown, and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

And these are the ones which were sown on the rocky ground:
these when they heard the word immediately received it with joy
And they had no root  in themselves but they were not lasting
Then when troubles arose or persecution -because of the word,
immediately they are falling.

And others are those sown in amongst the thorn bushes.
These are the ones who hear the word
and cares of the age
and deception of riches
and those desires for other things come in and choke the word
and there will no fruit. 

And these are those who are sown upon the good soil, t
hose who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit 

One thirty times, and 
one sixty times and
one a hundred times.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

And again he began to teach by the sea. And a very large crowd gathered to him, so that after having gone on board the boat, he sat in it, on the sea, and all the crowd were near the sea, on the land. 

And he taught them many things in parables at length,
and he said to them in the course of his teaching: 

Hear! Look, a sower went out to sow, and it happened that while he was sowing, 
seed fell by the road and the birds came and ate it, 
and seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil,
and immediately it sprang up  because it did not have deep soil,
and when the sun rose, it was scorched
and it was dried up because it did not have a root. 
and other seed fell amongst thorn plants, and the thorns grew up and choked it
  and it did not produce fruit
And others fell into good soil and produces fruit, having come up and and grown 
one bears thirty times, one sixty times and one a hundred times. 

And he said ‘Whoever has ears to hear, hear!’

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

And his mother and his brothers came and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him.
And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him: ‘Look, your mother and your brothers (and your sisters) are looking for you outside. 

And he replied: ‘Who is my mother, and my brothers? And looking around those around him sitting in a circle he said ‘Look, my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, that one is my brother, and my sister and mother.’

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

And he went into the house, again a crowd came together, so that they were not able to eat bread. 

And his family hearing this, came [from Nazareth] to seize him. For some said ‘He is out of his mind.’

And the scholars, from the Pharisees, having come down [from Jerusalem] , said ‘Beelzebul has him’, and ‘By the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.’ 

And he called them, and  spoke to them in parables:

‘How can Satan cast out Satan?’

And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not st and.
And if a house is divided against itself that house will not stand.’

‘And if Satan rises against himself and is divided he cannot stand but is at an end. 

‘But no-one can enter the strong man’s house to steal his things, unless first he binds the strong man, and then he plunders his house. 

Truly, truly I tell you people will be forgiven all sins and the things they say as blasphemies. 
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, will not have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.’ 

…because they said ‘He has an unclean spirit.’

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

And Jesus, with his disciples, withdrew to the sea, and a great crowd from Galilee followed him –  and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea and from the other side of the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon, a great crowd – hearing what he had done -came to him. 

And he told his disciples to get ready a little boat for him, because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. 

For he had healed many, so that those who had an illness were falling over themselves in order to touch him. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, they fell down before him and cried out: ‘You are the Son of God’, and he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbour,
where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict.
Show me the course I should take.
Renew in me the gift of discernment,
so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go.
And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course,
even when the sea is rough and the waves are high,
knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name
we shall find comfort and peace.
Amen

Basil of Caesarea (c.329-379)

And he went into the synagogue again, and there was a man with a withered hand. They watched him closely, if he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 

And he said to the man with the withered hand: ‘Get up and come into the centre.’

And he said to them: ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save a life or kill?

Then they were silent. 

And having looked around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man: ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was restored

And immediately the Pharisees went out and began planning with the Herodians as to how they might destroy him.

Take from us,
O God, all pride and vanity,
all boasting and self-assertion,
and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness,
the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity,
and the true power that shows itself in modesty.

Charles Kingsley

And it happened on the Sabbath, that as he was going through the grain-fields, his disciples began to make a path and pick some heads of grain. 

And the Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’

And he said to them: ‘Have you never read what David did when he had a need and he was hungry, and those with him, how he went into the House of God (near the passage about  Abiathar the High Priest) and they ate the sacred bread, which it is not lawful to eat, except the priests, and he also gave it to the you who were with him. ‘

And he said to them: ‘The sabbath came to be for people, not people for the sabbath. 

Therefore the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath also. ‘

O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee,
the life of the souls that love thee,
and the strength of the wills that serve thee;
help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee;
so to love thee that we may fully serve thee,
whom to serve is perfect freedom.
Amen