Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: July 28, 2025

Date: Monday of the 17^th Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture Text:  Matthew 13:31-35

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.”He spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The gospel text today from Matthew repeats two of Jesus’ familiar “Kingdom of heaven” parables: the mustard seed and the yeast. The point of both parables is abundant change from small beginning.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Am I applying the gifts and grace the LORD has gifted me with for love of the LORD and bring good into this world for the LORD’s glory?

Praying:

LORD, Almighty Father, Beloved Son Jesus Christ, Most Holy Spirit, we are because of You. You are our creator, our redeemer, our advocate. All our gifts from our very lives to our talents and time, we owe to You. May your transformative shower of love produce within us the urge to share that which we did not earn with others for love of You and one another. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.