Gospel (Mt 13,18-23) - At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: «You therefore listen to the parable of the sower. Every time someone hears the word of the Kingdom and does not understand it, the Evil One comes and steals what has been sown in his heart: this is the seed sown along the way. What was sown on stony ground is he who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy, but has no roots in himself and is inconstant, so that as soon as tribulation or persecution comes because of the Word, he immediately fails . The one sown among the brambles is the one who listens to the Word, but the worries of the world and the seduction of wealth suffocate the Word and it does not bear fruit. The one sown on good soil is the one who listens to the Word and understands it; this bears fruit and produces a hundred, sixty, thirty times one."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

With this parable, Jesus shows his new way of preaching the Gospel, precisely through parables. In the parables the concepts intersect with the images and events of everyday life, easily understandable to all listeners. The Gospel had to reach everywhere. Anyone could listen to him and be helped. The Apostles, struck by this choice of Jesus, ask him directly: "Why do you speak to them in parables?". The announcement of the kingdom of God, the heart of evangelical preaching, required to be communicated clearly but without being equivocated. For the Jews, the Messiah should have established the kingdom through political means and in some cases with violence, as the Zealots preached. Jesus did not want to be misunderstood. Hence the choice of a language that reached down to his heart. Whoever was thirsty for love would have more. He who is not thirsty for love will dry up even more. This is how we could understand the words of Jesus: to those who have, it will be given, and from those who do not have, even what they have will be taken away. Parabolic language involves the listeners and leaves the Pharisees disarmed. God, moreover, has decided to reveal the "mysteries of the kingdom" to the small and weak. They are the recipients of the kingdom. This is why he says to the disciples: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." They, as well as the weak, are given the grace of being able to touch, listen and see Jesus with their own eyes. He is "the parable" of God among us.