Jesus’ words is the key to life.
Ears devoted to the words of Jesus are good soil.

 

The birds came and ate them up; when the sun rose, they were scorched.

And other fell on good ground, and bare fruit an hundredfold.
Let anyone with ears listen!'

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10

 These are the words of Jeremiah son of  Hilkiah,

One of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.  A word of Yahweh came to me,    “Even before I formed you in the womb I have known you; even before you were born I had set you apart, and appointed you a prophet to the nations!”  I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! I do not know how to speak; I am still young!”

 But Yahweh replied, “Do not say; ‘I am still young’, for now you will go whatever be the mission I am entrusting to you, and you will speak of whatever I command you to say.   Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you – it is Yahweh who speaks!”

Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.  See! Today I give you authority over nations and over kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

 

Ps 71:1-2, 3-4a, 5-6ab, 15 & 17

I will sing of your salvation.

 

  ＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Matthew 13:1-9

That same day Jesus left the house and sat down by the lakeside.   As many people gathered around him, he got in a boat. There he sat while the whole crowd stood on the shore, and he spoke to them in parables about many things.

Jesus said, “The sower went out to sow and, as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and ate them up.   Other seeds fell on rocky ground where there was little soil, and the seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was not deep.  But as soon the sun rose the plants were scorched and withered because they had no roots.  

 Again other seeds fell among thistles; and the thistles grew and choked the plants.   Still other seeds fell on good soil and produced a crop; some produced a hundredfold, others sixty and others thirty.   If you have ears, then hear!”

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Pygmalion Effect

The Pygmalion Effect (also called Rosenthal Effect) is a psychological phenomenon wherein the hopeful expectations and dreams that one has about another person positively influences the performance of the latter. Research has shown how the positive expectations of teachers correlate with better performance of students.

Now, imagine the Pygmalion Effect of God’s words on Jeremiah! Here is a young man with no little inferiority complex: He has a poor self-image; he does not believe he can even speak properly. But God thinks of him differently.

God has already thought of Jeremiah highly, knowing him even before he was conceived, setting him apart even before he was horn! How can such dream of God go to waste? It is no wonder that Jeremiah would grow into the image God had of him.

God has similar dreams and hopes for each one of us. We are all uniquely called into life. What prevents us from trusting God’s dream and growing into his image of us?