Glory to Jesus Christ. The Lord said that, you
just heard these words, the wisdom is not revealed
unto the mighty and the powerful and the wise,
but revealed unto babes. So let's consider ourselves
children, babes, in understanding. and ask God
to reveal to us what he made today. The Lord
also said that the one on the good ground is
the one with the good and noble heart. So let
us open our hearts today to understand together,
meditating on this passage from St. Luke. Today
is the feast day of St. Luke as well. which is
why we had that second gospel that mentioned
the 70 apostles, of which he was one of those.
His relics were in Constantinople up until 1204,
when the crusaders came through, and they took
the relics along with lots of other things from
the city, and they ended up in Padua. in the
Cathedral of St. Justina, and they were forgotten.
Until the early 90s, when one of the metropolitans
of Greece, the metropolitan of Theva, where St.
Luke was martyred in central Greece, that metropolitan,
Hieronymus, asked, he knew that the relics had
been stolen. You know, Greeks don't forget stuff
like that. 1204, not that long ago for them.
It's still smarting. Of course, lots of things
were taken. The Vatican Museum is full of things
from Constantinople. He knew, and he asked the
Bishop of Padua for these relics, and the Bishop
of Padua had no idea they were there. He started
an investigation. They discovered they actually
had the body of St. Luke. a major portion of
the relic was returned to Theva, where now they
stream myrrh occasionally, and the faithful can
go and pray and ask St. Luke for his intercessions.
So the apostles are very much alive with us.
Let us briefly examine the words that the holy
apostle received from the Lord. This famous parable
of the sower, you've heard it a million times.
One of the primary and important spiritual teachers
these days, Father Maximus, Archimandrite Maximus
Custance from Holy Cross, noted that beginning
in 2009, that the New York Times ran a series
of articles focusing on accidents and fatalities
involving distracted drivers. And you know what
they're distracted with. And surgeons placing
calls and texting during surgery. Medical technicians
texting while running cardio. Pulmonary bypass
machines. I don't mean to scare anybody that
might be having surgery coming up. Anesthesiologists
who are shopping online for airplane tickets.
Social media interruptions, as you know, look
around, you yourself probably know this from
experience, happen at least every 10 minutes.
It's been calculated that in the U .S. alone,
over 12... billion collective hours are spent
browsing on social networks every day not a year
not a couple months but every day 12 billion
collective hours we each have some of those hours
to ourselves i know that alongside These statistics,
there's all kinds of anecdotal evidence, which
you know yourself, such as in September 2003
on one of the BART trains in San Francisco, the
train passengers were all looking at their cell
phones. They did not see a man pull a gun, who
stood there trying to get attention, but the
people were focused on their phones. It ended
in a tragedy. A man was shot and killed. I'm
recounting these details, these statistics, to
tell you, not to tell you, it's bad to be distracted.
I think we know that. That's not the lesson.
Nor am I telling you it's bad to use social media.
That's another topic. Probably is. This isn't
about distraction. It's about... distraction
as a symptom and the cause of the loss of God's
presence in the soul it's about what happens
when the mind and the heart and our attention
which is all connected just like the toe bone
is connected to the foot The mind, the heart,
and our attention is connected. When that attention
and the heart and the mind becomes like a hoarder's
garage, full of sins and distractions, the weeds
are multiplying with anxiety. And there's not
much useful for the journey to eternal life to
be found packed in that spiritual garage. This
gospel is about making a choice of where my attention
is going to go. Of deciding what I value, intentionally
value, what I pursue, knowing my life is short.
The judge is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is
here. And if after I leave this service today,
And just forget about the gospel lesson I just
heard about the sower and the seeds, the words
of the Savior. Then it's as if the words of Christ
have come true in me. Those by the wayside are
the ones who hear. Then the devil comes and takes
the word out of their hearts. lest they should
believe and be saved. Let's not forget, we're
meant to consider these readings all week long.
We're meant to store them in our heart and consider
them through the day. And when we do that, when
we meditate on it that way, God will reveal to
us his message. God will unfold for us what we
can't understand. You know, conquerors in the
ancient world, after overcoming their enemy,
would put stones and rocks and lime and salt
on the ground so their enemy's land could never
be useful again for a long time. Now this is
about clearing that field today. We don't want
to be the hard and stony ground. We want to be
the ground that some work has been done, that
the soil has been broken up, it's been amended,
the weeds have been pulled out. I remember when
my parents bought our first house. I guess I
was 12. I must have been 7th grade. It was in
Aurora, Colorado on Vaughan Avenue, a new housing
area. $28 ,000 for a four -bedroom house and
a basement with it and a backyard. But the front
yard was just dirt and rocks. And I remember
feeling conquered and beaten down by my enemy,
my dad. I was 12 at the time, so kids are a little
dramatic. Who wanted me to go out there, because
he's going to work every day and it was summer.
I had nothing to do. Go out there and take all
the rocks out of that front yard, clear the whole
thing, break up the soil because the sod guys
were coming. That's what we're doing with our
soul. That's what we're doing with our heart.
When it gets messed up, attend to thyself, it
says in Deuteronomy 15 .9. Attend to thyself.
that there be no hidden or iniquitous word in
thy heart. Christ himself is telling us this,
and he interprets the parable for us very simply.
The sower and the seed, he tells the disciples
and the women disciples that are there too. I
say that because in the passage before, they
were all there. And when asked why he speaks
in parables, he tells them, quoting a passage
from the prophet Isaiah, that those who can hear
it will understand. Those that don't want to
hear it, they will walk away and reject it. The
seed, the seed that the sower, God, is throwing
out before him as he goes everywhere, religious
idea, a set of principles about faith that we
adhere to. Nor is it a feeling of grace. The
word of God, the seed, the word of God is Christ
himself. He's been given to us. He's not merely
some human word or idea concealed within a religious
message. However great and overwhelming that
message might be, behind the message of the gospel
stands Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God,
the Word of God. As St. Paul puts it, having
been given to us, my little children for whom
I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ.
Be formed in you. Christ is being formed in us.
This is the goal of what Christ did. And he grows
in our hearts like an infant grows. And more.
Listen, do you remember? We heard this just a
couple weeks ago at the Feast of Protection.
Jesus said that those who hear the word of God
and keep it are what? That's his mother and his
brother. How do we know, then, that we have this
gift? How do we know that we are taking care
of the soil of our heart? St. Simeon, the new
theologian, gives us the following example. Very
clear. A woman who is pregnant with a child can
be absolutely certain that she's carrying a child,
even though there's no obvious sign of her pregnancy.
And other people don't suspect it. The same is
true of those who welcome the word of God into
their heart and who cultivate the ground. God's
not going to send us a taxi to take us to heaven.
We are responsible to cultivate the ground. We
understand. Very well then, when we have that
nourishing seed of the word of God within us.
How, again I ask, not by getting all Pentecostal
about it, not by getting all anxious about it.
No, one discovers very gently one day in the
midst of trouble, in the midst of problems, in
the midst of anxiety, in the midst of our own
moment, one discovers that the heart is quiet
and peaceful. One discovers when saying, O Heavenly
King, that truly one is comforted by the Comforter.
One discovers when we say, Our Father, give us
this day our daily bread, we really believe it.
And what joy then starts to grow. And a good
and noble heart is exalting before God for this.
One discovers exactly in the midst of difficulties
what St. Paul related. You heard it today. After
his visions, Christ says to him, my grace is
sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect
in weakness. My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Therefore, most gladly, I will boast in mine
infirmities that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. What a bold statement, to boast in infirmities.
And there is not only peace and sufficient grace
of God, but the story. as I've mentioned already,
is about the struggle to keep that gift in the
heart. Not just by avoiding sin, but by something
much more positive, much more helpful, much more
nourishing, and that is to desire, to pursue,
to put energy into acquiring the remembrance
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can spend so much
time Focusing our energy on something that has
no eternal value. There's a picture the other
day. I admit, I saw it on Facebook, speaking
of distractions, of a hearse pulling a U -Haul.
So I guess some people think they can take it
with them. No, it's work. The Lord has given
us a share in the labor. You see, he doesn't
do everything for us. He says, you come, you
work with me. And what does he say? This beautiful
story today, over and over. The good ground are
they which in an honest and good heart, having
heard the word, keep it. The keeping of the word
is the labor, and we bring forth much fruit.
My beloved Elder Porphyrios, who died December
2, 1991, has said that God placed a gift in our
souls, the seed, Christ himself. He says this,
if we imagine the good as a garden full of flowers,
the good thing that we pursue. trees and plants,
and we imagine the evil that we know about. Not
in other people, by the way. We are not to judge.
We may discern sin, but we are not to judge.
We imagine the evil as weeds and thorns and the
power as water. Then what can happen is as follows.
When the water is directed to the flower and
the garden, Then all the plants grow. They blossom.
They bear fruit. And at the same time, the weeds
and the thorns, because they are not watered,
wither and die. And the opposite, of course,
can also happen. It is not necessary, therefore,
to concern yourself with the weeds. Don't occupy
yourself with rooting out evil. Christ does not
wish us to occupy ourselves with the passions,
but with the opposite. Channel the water that
is all the strength of your soul to the flowers,
and you will enjoy their beauty, their fragrance,
their freshness. You won't become saints by hounding
after evil. You won't become saints by hounding
after evil. Ignore evil. Look towards Christ.
He will save you. Occupy yourself with singing
hymns, the triumphant hymns of the saints. and
the martyrs, and the Psalms of David. Study Holy
Scripture and the Church Fathers. In this way,
says the elder, your soul will be softened, sanctified,
and assimilated to God. This is repentance, brothers
and sisters, and I promise you, the Lord has
given us each an allotment of time for this repentance.
Let us not spin our wheels. On the concrete.
Let's apply ourselves to what the Lord said in
the gospel today. And we shall be saved. Amen.