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Hi, everyone. 
Welcome back to Daily Gospel 

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exegesis. 
Today's reading is a really long

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one. 
So we're going to look at 23 

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verses from Matthew. 
So it's one of those really long

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Sunday readings. 
And as such, it's not going to 

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be one that we can do a complete
exegesis on. 

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But what I'll do is I'll read 
out the passage and then I'll 

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point you towards other times in
the liturgical year when we do 

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break down these verses into 
more detail. 

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So today's passage is from 
Matthew chapter 13 versus 1 to 

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23. 
And here's what this passage 

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says. 
So verses 1 to 23, Jesus left 

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the house and sat by the 
lakeside. 

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But such large crowds gathered 
around him that he got into a 

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boat and sat there. 
The people all stood on the 

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beach and he told them many 
things in parables, he said. 

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Imagine a sower going out to sow
as he sowed. 

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Some seeds fell on the edge of 
the path and the birds came and 

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ate them up. 
Others fell on patches of rock, 

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where they found little soil and
sprang up straight away. 

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Because there was no depth of 
earth. 

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But as soon as the sun came up, 
they were scorched, and not 

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having any roots, they withered 
away. 

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Others fell among thorns, and 
the thorns grew up and choked 

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them. 
Others fell on rich soil and 

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produced their crop, some a 
hundredfold, some 60 and some 

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30. 
Listen, anyone who has ears. 

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Then the disciples went up to 
him and asked. 

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Why do you talk to them in 
parables? 

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Because, he replied. 
The mysteries of the Kingdom of 

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heaven are revealed to you, but 
they are not revealed to them. 

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For anyone who has will be given
more, and he will have more than

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enough, But from anyone who has 
not, even what he has will be 

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taken away. 
The reason I talk to them in 

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parables is that they look 
without seeing, and listen 

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without hearing or 
understanding. 

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So in their case, this prophecy 
of Isaiah is being fulfilled. 

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You will listen again and listen
again, but not understand. 

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You will see and see again, but 
not perceive, For the heart of 

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this nation has grown coarse. 
There is a dull of hearing, and 

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they have shut their eyes. 
For fear that they should see 

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with their eyes, hear with their
ears, understand with their 

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heart, and be converted, and be 
healed by me. 

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But happy are your eyes, because
they see your ears, because they

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hear. 
I tell you solemnly, Many 

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prophets and holy men longed to 
see what you see, but they never

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saw it. 
To hear what you hear, and never

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heard it. 
You therefore are to hear the 

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parable of the Sower. 
When anyone hears the word of 

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the Kingdom without 
understanding, the Evil One 

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comes and carries off what was 
sown in his heart. 

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This is the man who received the
seed on the edge of the path. 

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The one who received it on 
patches of rock is the man who 

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hears the Word and welcomes it 
at once with joy. 

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But he has no root in him. 
He does not last. 

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Let some trial come, or some 
persecution on account of the 

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word, and he falls away at once.
The one who received the seed in

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thorns is the man who hears the 
word. 

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But the worries of this world 
and lure of riches choke the 

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Word, and so he produces 
nothing. 

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And the one who received the 
seed in rich soil is the man who

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hears the word and understands 
it. 

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He is the one who yields a 
harvest and produces now 100 

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fold, now 60, now 30. 
So that's today's passage. 

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It is a long one, probably one 
that's well known to most of 

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you, the parable of the sower, 
and sometimes it's one that's 

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explained well and understood 
well, other times not so much. 

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And obviously in this podcast we
want to try and help you. 

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Really understand what the text 
itself is saying. 

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Let the text speak on its own 
terms. 

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In today's passage you would 
have heard that it roughly 

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divides into three separate 
parts, and each of these parts 

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deserves its own podcast, which 
is exactly what we will do. 

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So the three parts are the first
bit where he tells them the 

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parable of the sower, the second
part where he tells the apostles

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the mysteries of the Kingdom and
the purpose of parables. 

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And then the third part is when 
he goes back and interprets. 

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The parable of the sower. 
So on today's podcast we're not 

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going to attempt to cover all of
that. 

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But what I want to do is point 
you towards other times in the 

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podcast where we do take an 
indepth look at these three 

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sections. 
So firstly, if you want to hear 

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each of these three sections of 
today's parable broken down into

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their respective verses, that is
done on week 16 of Ordinary Time

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from Wednesday through to 
Friday. 

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So Week 16 of Ordinary Time, 
Wednesday through to Friday. 

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So if you would like to, you can
go back and have a look through 

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the podcast archives for those 
episodes of week 16 of Ordinary 

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Time and we will do a verse by 
verse exegesis of this passage. 

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If you do want to hear the full 
version and exegesis of that, 

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then the version we hear today 
is quite similar to Mark's 

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version, although there's some 
slight differences, they're 

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basically the same, so you can 
have a look at. 

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The podcast on Wednesday of week
3 in Ordinary Time, which has a 

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look at Mark's entire version of
this parable, So Wednesday of 

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Week 3 in Ordinary Time. 
So there are a few times in the 

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liturgical year when we will 
have a really indepth look at 

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this parable. 
Though if we took Matthew's 

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version as we have it today, 
versus 1 to 23, today's episode 

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would probably be 40 minutes 
long, so it's better that we do 

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it in smaller chunks. 
But let's finish today by having

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a look at some catechism 
passages about the parable of 

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the Sowa. 
And obviously there's a lot you 

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can take from it. 
Let's look at paragraph 546. 

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This is about how Jesus chooses 
to proclaim the Kingdom of God. 

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Jesus invitation to enter His 
Kingdom comes in the form of 

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parables, A characteristic 
feature of his teaching. 

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Through his parables, he invites
people to the feast of the 

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Kingdom. 
But he also asks for a radical 

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choice. 
To gain the Kingdom one must 

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give everything. 
Words are not enough. 

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Deeds are required. 
The parables are like mirrors 

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for man. 
Will he be hard soil or good 

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earth for the word? 
What use has he made of the 

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talents he has received? 
Jesus and the presence of the 

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Kingdom in this world are 
secretly at the heart of the 

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parables. 
One must enter the Kingdom, that

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is, become a disciple of Christ.
In order to know the secrets of 

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the Kingdom of Heaven. 
For those who stay outside, 

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everything remains enigmatic. 
So there's a lot in there about 

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the nature of parables. 
Jesus uses parables for multiple

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reasons. 
Firstly, he wants to hold up a 

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mirror to man, and this 
paragraph sort of talks about 

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that. 
It basically encourages man to 

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reflect on himself. 
Also, it's the deliberately. 

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Spoken in such a way that those 
who are seeking God will 

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understand the parable, but 
those who are not seeking God 

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will not understand the parable.
That's something we don't like 

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to talk about, but Jesus 
explicitly says here in today's 

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passage that that's the point of
the parables. 

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He speaks in a hidden way so 
that only some people will 

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understand. 
And then lastly, as this 

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paragraph alludes to the 
parables, encourage people to 

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take action for the Kingdom 
rather than just hearing the 

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words. 
Paragraph 29 we're going to look

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at next, and this is about man's
desire for God. 

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So very early in the Catechism, 
there's a discussion about how 

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man is oriented towards God, 
even before we have knowledge of

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the Bible and things like that. 
And it uses a really interesting

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well, it uses today's passage in
a really interesting way. 

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So paragraph 29, this intimate 
and vital vital bond of man to 

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God can be forgotten, 
overlooked, or even explicitly 

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rejected by man. 
Such attitudes can have 

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different causes. 
Revolt against evil in the 

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world. 
Religious ignorance or 

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indifference. 
The cares and riches of this 

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world. 
The scandal of bad example on 

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the part of believers, currents 
of thought hostile to religion. 

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Finally that attitude of sinful 
man which makes him hide from 

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God out of fear and flee his 
call. 

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So really interesting paragraph 
and it makes reference there to 

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one of the things that can stop 
us from sensing God and having a

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desire for God is the cares and 
riches of this world. 

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And obviously that comes 
straight out of today's parable.

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I think this is one of the most 
fascinating parts of the 

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catechism, these early 
paragraphs on. 

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How man knows God and how God 
reaches out to man. 

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And if you're interested in 
going through the Catechism of 

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the Catholic Church in a 
systematic way and really 

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digging into the text of the 
Catechism in the same way that 

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we do for the Bible in this 
podcast, then can I recommend 

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you have a look at the Patreon 
page for our Ministry Logical 

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Bible study? 
Because that's something that is

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available to Patreon supporters 
who pledged $20 or more per 

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month. 
You can get access to the 

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regular systematic catechesis. 
That I do with my local parish, 

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where we actually have a look at
the Catechism paragraph by 

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paragraph. 
So if you've always wanted to 

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dive a bit more into the 
Catechism, then that option is 

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there for you. 
And there's a link to the 

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Patreon page in the show notes, 
paragraph 787. 

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From the beginning, Jesus 
associated his disciples with 

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his own life, revealed the 
mystery of the Kingdom to them, 

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and gave them a share in his 
mission, joy and sufferings. 

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And here it references, amongst 
others, Matthew 13, because in 

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the middle of today's passage 
Jesus explains the mysteries of 

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the Kingdom to the Apostles, 
Last paragraph today, paragraph 

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1724. 
This is about Christian 

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beatitude. 
The Decalogue, the Sermon on the

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Mount, and the Apostolic 
catechesis describe for us the 

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paths that lead to the Kingdom 
of heaven, sustained by the 

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grace of the Holy Spirit. 
We tread them step by step. 

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By everyday acts, by the working
of the Word of Christ, we slowly

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bear fruit in the Church to the 
glory of God. 

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So we'll leave it there for 
today. 

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Thank you for listening and as I
said, you can listen to a more 

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in depth exegesis of the parable
of the Sowa in week 16 of 

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ordinary time, Wednesday through
to Friday. 

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Thanks and hopefully you'll 
TuneIn again tomorrow.