From Living Faith Daily Catholic Devotions (Jan/Feb/Mar 2026)

Third Week in Ordinary Time

2 Samuel 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17 + Psalm 51:3-7, 10-11 + Mark 4:26-34

How Did That Happen?

…the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Mark 4:27

The daily readings in Ordinary Time start with the Gospel according to Mark, and it never gets old! It’s as if the Gospel itself is acting out today’s parable; Mark is the farmer, and he just scatters stories all over the place, and suddenly the New Testament starts springing up, “…he knows not how”!

Mark’s Gospel is short, but it also tackles how Jesus wrestles with Satan, that the Apostles are slow to catch on the Jesus’ preaching and that the Pharisees are brewing poisons. Mark keeps that accounts moving, but the process is purposefully directed (by the Holy Spirit), as with this agrarian example: “…first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come” (vv. 28-29).

Just like that, thanks be to God, you and I have a Gospel in our hands, the inspired word of God!

□ Miguel Dulick