This week's gospel reading is the parable of the sower and the seeds:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/071308.shtml
When I teach youth about parables, I tell them that a parable is a story that has a surprise ending. Jesus takes the assumptions of his listeners and turns them upside down.
One teen responded to me: "None of those stories has a surprise ending to me anymore." He'd been coming faithfully to Mass for so many years that he knew all the stories by heart.
I think it's challenging, and important, for us to come back to the Scripture passages we've heard so many times with fresh ears and an open heart. Even with lines as familiar as these....how can God still surprise you? How can your experience of hearing the same readings over the years deepen your understanding of God's word and its' meaning in your life?