About Today
Friday 30 January 2026
Friday of week 3 in Ordinary Time
Give thanks to the Lord, for his great love is without end.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 3. Liturgical Colour: Green.
Other saints: Saint Aedan of Ferns (c.550 - 632)
Ireland
He was the son of an Irish tribal chieftain and studied under St Finian and St David. He was the first bishop of Ferns, in Ireland, and founded many churches and monasteries. See the article in Wikipedia.
The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground
Gospel: Mark 4:26-34
At that time: Jesus said to the crowd: ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.’
And he said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
Reflection on the painting
In today’s Gospel, Jesus offers us one of his most quietly mysterious parables: the parable of the seed that grows unseen. It appears only in Mark’s Gospel. The parable tells us that we shouldn't always be wanting to 'do' things, but sometimes 'watching' is the most fitting. Jesus does not explain everything. He allows the image of hi parable to linger, to work on us slowly. A farmer scatters seed into the earth, and then something extraordinary happens: life unfolds without his control. Nature takes over. He can't do anything much as such. He needs to wait, watch and be patient. Day and night pass, seasons turn, and growth takes place beyond human effort or management.
There is a deep spiritual wisdom here. In life, and especially in our relationship with God, there are moments for action, and moments for restraint. There are times to sow generously, and times to step back in trust. We are not always meant to interfere, to fix, or to hurry what God is already doing in secret. Faith sometimes requires the humility to let go, to resist the urge to control outcomes, and to believe that grace is at work even when we cannot see it. What we can pray for is discernment: the wisdom to know when to act and when to wait, when to labour and when to allow God’s hidden work to bear fruit in its own time.
Wheat Fields after the Rain (The Plain of Auvers) was painted in 1890, during the final months of Vincent van Gogh’s life, while he was living in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village north of Paris. This period is celebrated for some of Van Gogh’s most intense and expressive landscapes, created in rapid succession as he immersed himself in the rhythms of nature. He was simply watching nature, and letting nature take its course, not interfering. Yet his way to engage with watching the seeds grow into fine wheat, was to paint. Our painting captures a vast expanse of golden wheat fields rippling under a sky just cleared by rain. Van Gogh’s brushwork is energetic yet controlled. The thick impasto and swirling strokes convey both the tactile reality of the landscape and its emotional resonance. We can sense a deep communion between the inner life of Vincent and the outward life of the land.
Wheat Fields after the Rain (The Plain of Auvers),
Painting by Vincent van Gogh ( 1853–1890),
Painted in 1890,
Oil on canvas
© Carnegie Museum of Art, Acquired through the generosity of the Sarah Mellon Scaife Family
Friday of week 3 in Ordinary Time
Give thanks to the Lord, for his great love is without end.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 3. Liturgical Colour: Green.
Other saints: Saint Aedan of Ferns (c.550 - 632)
Ireland
He was the son of an Irish tribal chieftain and studied under St Finian and St David. He was the first bishop of Ferns, in Ireland, and founded many churches and monasteries. See the article in Wikipedia.
The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground
Gospel: Mark 4:26-34
At that time: Jesus said to the crowd: ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.’
And he said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
Reflection on the painting
In today’s Gospel, Jesus offers us one of his most quietly mysterious parables: the parable of the seed that grows unseen. It appears only in Mark’s Gospel. The parable tells us that we shouldn't always be wanting to 'do' things, but sometimes 'watching' is the most fitting. Jesus does not explain everything. He allows the image of hi parable to linger, to work on us slowly. A farmer scatters seed into the earth, and then something extraordinary happens: life unfolds without his control. Nature takes over. He can't do anything much as such. He needs to wait, watch and be patient. Day and night pass, seasons turn, and growth takes place beyond human effort or management.
There is a deep spiritual wisdom here. In life, and especially in our relationship with God, there are moments for action, and moments for restraint. There are times to sow generously, and times to step back in trust. We are not always meant to interfere, to fix, or to hurry what God is already doing in secret. Faith sometimes requires the humility to let go, to resist the urge to control outcomes, and to believe that grace is at work even when we cannot see it. What we can pray for is discernment: the wisdom to know when to act and when to wait, when to labour and when to allow God’s hidden work to bear fruit in its own time.
Wheat Fields after the Rain (The Plain of Auvers) was painted in 1890, during the final months of Vincent van Gogh’s life, while he was living in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village north of Paris. This period is celebrated for some of Van Gogh’s most intense and expressive landscapes, created in rapid succession as he immersed himself in the rhythms of nature. He was simply watching nature, and letting nature take its course, not interfering. Yet his way to engage with watching the seeds grow into fine wheat, was to paint. Our painting captures a vast expanse of golden wheat fields rippling under a sky just cleared by rain. Van Gogh’s brushwork is energetic yet controlled. The thick impasto and swirling strokes convey both the tactile reality of the landscape and its emotional resonance. We can sense a deep communion between the inner life of Vincent and the outward life of the land.
Wheat Fields after the Rain (The Plain of Auvers),
Painting by Vincent van Gogh ( 1853–1890),
Painted in 1890,
Oil on canvas
© Carnegie Museum of Art, Acquired through the generosity of the Sarah Mellon Scaife Family