Ordinary Time · Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: June 14, 2026

Gospel of the Week

The Church reads the Gospel aloud every Sunday. Read this week's passage, pray with it, and carry one line into the week.

This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land.

Mark 4:26–34

The reading

Jesus said to the crowds: "This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade."

Read the full Sunday readings

Pray with this Gospel

Read once for the story, once for the line that catches you, and once as a prayer. Sit with that line for a minute before moving on.

Carry one line

Choose one phrase from the Gospel and return to it before Mass, after Mass, or at the end of the day.

The Gospel

Each Sunday the Church around the world reads the same Gospel. Here is what it is, and why we build our week around it.

The word gospel means good news. The four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John: tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth: his life, his teaching, his death on a cross, and his resurrection. For Christians this is not just history. It is the announcement that God has come close to us, and that death does not have the last word.

At every Sunday Mass, a passage from the Gospels is read aloud and preached on. The whole Church follows the same calendar of readings, so the Gospel you hear in Vernon is the Gospel being heard that same morning in Manila, Lagos, and Rome. Over three years, the cycle walks through nearly everything Jesus said and did.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.: Romans 15:7

Reading along at home

You don't need any special training to read the Gospel: just a quiet few minutes. The daily readings are free at bible.usccb.org. Many people in our parishes read the coming Sunday's Gospel once during the week, slowly, and simply notice what stays with them. That old practice has a name, lectio divina: sacred reading: but it is as simple as reading and listening.

This week's Gospel is always on our homepage, with a link to the full readings.