WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.439 Glory to thee, O Lord, glory to thee. Glory to 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.300 Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and 00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:28.219 of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Just 00:00:28.219 --> 00:00:32.799 in time for the harvest season, we have in the 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:38.280 wisdom of the church a parable about a farmer 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:41.820 who takes his seed and he just casts it everywhere. 00:00:42.539 --> 00:00:46.880 The hard ground, the rocky ground, places where 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:52.539 there's thorns, where one wonders can it grow, 00:00:52.700 --> 00:00:56.439 and also on the good ground. in which the farmer 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:59.159 has done a significant amount of work cleaning 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:03.079 it out. And the apostles ask, what could this 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:06.620 mean? They hear this parable, and of course at 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:12.579 this time in their catechism, the Lord's teaching 00:01:12.579 --> 00:01:15.560 them for three years, after all. At this point 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:19.299 in their life, they don't understand a lot of 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:23.819 what he says. It's the same is true for us, I 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:28.140 think. That we, as disciples of the Lord, are 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:33.000 often vexed, not sure what to do, not sure what 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.640 things mean, not sure what the path ahead is 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:41.140 for us. The Lord will guide us. And in this case, 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:46.000 he exclaimed to the disciples what the parable 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:50.760 meant. He gave them the explanation. And he said, 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:54.790 as I said last night at the end of Vespers, He 00:01:54.790 --> 00:01:57.430 says it in parables because there are certain 00:01:57.430 --> 00:02:01.489 people that simply will not hear or accept the 00:02:01.489 --> 00:02:12.150 message. I want to speak about how we hear. And 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:14.889 in the church, in that case, we have to talk 00:02:14.889 --> 00:02:19.349 about the heart. The prophet Jeremiah, the prophet 00:02:19.349 --> 00:02:25.150 Isaiah, Luke himself. Over 43 times mentions 00:02:25.150 --> 00:02:28.310 that Jesus has said something about the heart. 00:02:28.509 --> 00:02:31.590 St. Paul speaks about the heart and that the 00:02:31.590 --> 00:02:34.889 gift of the Holy Spirit has been given in the 00:02:34.889 --> 00:02:38.050 heart all over the scriptures. And we know ourselves, 00:02:38.389 --> 00:02:41.729 right? We see a Valentine's card. There's a heart 00:02:41.729 --> 00:02:45.250 on it. We know what it means. For us Orthodox, 00:02:45.430 --> 00:02:48.990 it doesn't mean the place of the emotions. It 00:02:48.990 --> 00:02:53.379 means the deep inner person. The place where 00:02:53.379 --> 00:02:57.620 the soul dwells. That's the heart. Not figuratively 00:02:57.620 --> 00:03:02.199 either, but specifically the place of the soul. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:05.819 And we speak of learning something by heart, 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:11.060 a song or a poem. We speak of a broken heart. 00:03:11.180 --> 00:03:14.460 We speak of a courageous heart. We speak of a 00:03:14.460 --> 00:03:20.289 great -hearted person. So we have a sense. Of 00:03:20.289 --> 00:03:22.909 this. Because that's where the soul is. In the 00:03:22.909 --> 00:03:29.270 heart. Jesus says at the end of his teaching 00:03:29.270 --> 00:03:32.689 today. To a great crowd of people. Tells us at 00:03:32.689 --> 00:03:34.969 the beginning of this chapter. A great crowd 00:03:34.969 --> 00:03:37.430 of people. He says the seeds that fell on the 00:03:37.430 --> 00:03:41.710 good ground. Are those who having heard the word. 00:03:41.930 --> 00:03:47.870 With a noble and good heart. Keep it. And bear 00:03:47.870 --> 00:03:53.430 fruit. with patience. The parable today of the 00:03:53.430 --> 00:03:57.830 sower tells us of a noble and good heart. Our 00:03:57.830 --> 00:04:01.990 heart is to be good, is to be receptive, it's 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:06.449 to be cleaned, cleared out from all the residue, 00:04:06.569 --> 00:04:09.090 the trash, the stuff that builds up around us. 00:04:09.270 --> 00:04:12.090 The heart is that inner chamber. One of the saints 00:04:12.090 --> 00:04:14.969 speaks about how to prepare for confession. and 00:04:14.969 --> 00:04:17.750 how to prepare for communion. And he says something 00:04:17.750 --> 00:04:21.470 like this. If you're inviting a guest to your 00:04:21.470 --> 00:04:26.170 house to stay with you, and you have your guest 00:04:26.170 --> 00:04:29.990 room, but it's filled with old computer boxes 00:04:29.990 --> 00:04:36.470 and boxes from Amazon and wires and other junk. 00:04:37.079 --> 00:04:40.480 And extra furniture that you don't need. And 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:44.740 Christmas presents that you don't want. And so 00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:47.139 on and so forth. And piles and piles of things. 00:04:47.540 --> 00:04:50.759 Where is your guest going to stay? He says, this 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:54.540 is the state of our heart. And it's dirty and 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:59.180 it's dusty and it's a mess. If we expect someone 00:04:59.180 --> 00:05:02.639 to come, we'll do our best. If we love that person. 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:06.079 We want to embrace that person. We want to show 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:09.480 that person absolute hospitality when they come. 00:05:09.579 --> 00:05:13.620 We will prepare that room. We will clean it out. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:18.040 And we will make it comfortable. This, the saint 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:21.660 says, is how we prepare for communion. We empty 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:25.579 all that out so that the Lord himself will be 00:05:25.579 --> 00:05:30.600 the guest. Because we have been given the glory, 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:36.829 the honor to be Christ. But if the Lord is crouching 00:05:36.829 --> 00:05:40.470 someplace in the closet, because that's the only 00:05:40.470 --> 00:05:44.829 extra room in that room, in the heart, then how 00:05:44.829 --> 00:05:51.089 can we mature spiritually? How can we honor him 00:05:51.089 --> 00:05:55.209 within ourself? So the good heart, the receptive 00:05:55.209 --> 00:06:01.110 heart. St. John Chrysostom says that in receiving 00:06:01.110 --> 00:06:06.259 communion, You take into yourself the Lord God 00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:11.899 himself. And you are mingled with his holy body. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:16.480 You are intermixed with his body and blood. That 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:22.759 is in heaven. And we become Christ bearers and 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:27.720 heaven bearers. Heaven bearers. Heaven is within 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:33.170 the heart when it is in that condition. It has 00:06:33.170 --> 00:06:37.990 to be made a place worthy of God. Can he make 00:06:37.990 --> 00:06:40.910 it worthy for us? We say at the end of the liturgy, 00:06:40.930 --> 00:06:43.389 we sing, thou hast made us worthy to partake. 00:06:43.709 --> 00:06:46.290 It's God that will do it, but we have to participate. 00:06:46.889 --> 00:06:50.089 Do we commend ourselves? You hear the deacons 00:06:50.089 --> 00:06:53.810 say this at the end of the litany. Let us commend 00:06:53.810 --> 00:06:57.769 ourselves and all our lives unto Christ our God. 00:06:57.949 --> 00:07:01.329 But is there a little corner that we can't commend? 00:07:02.060 --> 00:07:05.339 That we can't give the Lord. That we are holding 00:07:05.339 --> 00:07:10.439 back. The parable tells us the Lord, who is the 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:17.100 sower of the seed, puts into the heart the life 00:07:17.100 --> 00:07:19.259 -giving word. Because he says in the parable, 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:21.860 the seed is the word of God. But he is the word 00:07:21.860 --> 00:07:25.319 of God. So it's his love, it's his presence, 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:29.199 it's his knowledge of his existence and care. 00:07:29.740 --> 00:07:33.300 And every single person on the planet is given 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:37.699 the opportunity to bear that, to carry that, 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:42.019 to receive that. There's no coercion. As I've 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:45.360 said to you many, many times in the Lord, there 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:50.060 is no, I must do this or else. Because that's 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:55.160 not love. With God, we are free. We are free. 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:58.519 We can say no. He still loves us. We can say, 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:02.560 yes, he still loves us. We can participate and 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:07.720 learn how to love him. There's no coercion. Everyone 00:08:07.720 --> 00:08:12.160 receives that seed, no matter where. But according 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:19.939 to the parable, not all respond. Yes. Yes, for 00:08:19.939 --> 00:08:23.459 certain. A person might be like that ground, 00:08:23.740 --> 00:08:29.420 hard pavement. concrete, a hard -hearted heart. 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:33.679 And the Lord says, the devil is constantly stealing 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.340 the word from the peace, from the heart, the 00:08:37.340 --> 00:08:40.440 peace of heart. He's distracting us. He's leading 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:44.460 us down a path that seems good in our own eyes. 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:52.340 But it leads to destruction. It's when we are 00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:57.409 interrogating the Lord. When we are not listening 00:08:57.409 --> 00:09:00.330 for what he might tell us, but we're telling 00:09:00.330 --> 00:09:06.470 him how he ought to be. One in him, the church, 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:08.990 which is his body after all, so it's the same. 00:09:09.070 --> 00:09:13.210 One in it to be different. But we can choose 00:09:13.210 --> 00:09:18.230 if our heart is hard. We can choose to break 00:09:18.230 --> 00:09:21.590 up that ground. to take out the trash that's 00:09:21.590 --> 00:09:24.649 accumulated, to clean it, to prepare it for the 00:09:24.649 --> 00:09:29.330 word. You know how to do this. For the last few 00:09:29.330 --> 00:09:33.590 weeks, the sermons that you've been given, I 00:09:33.590 --> 00:09:35.629 gave you seven points the next week, Father. 00:09:36.289 --> 00:09:39.590 Nicholas gave you seven points last week. Father, 00:09:39.649 --> 00:09:43.029 Damien spoke about, you know what to do. You 00:09:43.029 --> 00:09:48.509 don't need me to tell you. Pray. Read the scriptures. 00:09:49.450 --> 00:09:55.730 Come to church. All of those things. No one is 00:09:55.730 --> 00:09:59.730 predestined to be lost. No one to have the heart, 00:09:59.809 --> 00:10:02.950 the seed, the word of God stolen from the heart. 00:10:03.029 --> 00:10:07.830 Not at all. But then we have, and I only deal 00:10:07.830 --> 00:10:10.470 with these two, this hard one and the next one. 00:10:10.669 --> 00:10:14.690 Then we have the heart which is choked and strangled 00:10:14.690 --> 00:10:19.210 by weeds. Now the ones that fell among the thorns 00:10:19.210 --> 00:10:24.649 are those who, when they have heard, one evangelist 00:10:24.649 --> 00:10:28.009 says, when they have heard with joy, they're 00:10:28.009 --> 00:10:30.590 zealous, they can't wait to be part of all of 00:10:30.590 --> 00:10:36.330 this. They go out and are choked with cares, 00:10:36.450 --> 00:10:40.590 or maybe it's riches, or maybe it's pleasures, 00:10:40.769 --> 00:10:46.529 or whatever, anxieties, and bring no fruit. To 00:10:46.529 --> 00:10:50.850 maturity. Their heart cannot bear. The presence 00:10:50.850 --> 00:10:56.269 of God. And they might be happy. They may enjoy 00:10:56.269 --> 00:11:00.149 life. In fact God is sending in this case. So 00:11:00.149 --> 00:11:06.029 many blessings. But we forget. Where the blessings 00:11:06.029 --> 00:11:09.370 are coming from. And we think it's by our own 00:11:09.370 --> 00:11:12.669 hand. And we forget the giver of all good gifts. 00:11:14.250 --> 00:11:17.269 And the soul, in that case, which was created 00:11:17.269 --> 00:11:21.129 to be a mirror of God. Why do I say that? What 00:11:21.129 --> 00:11:25.169 does it say in Genesis? We are created in the 00:11:25.169 --> 00:11:29.970 image. That's a mirror. And likeness of God. 00:11:30.149 --> 00:11:32.570 The soul, which is created to be that mirror, 00:11:32.669 --> 00:11:35.470 reflecting God, reflecting goodness, reflecting 00:11:35.470 --> 00:11:40.830 love, reflecting his creative powers, now reflects 00:11:40.830 --> 00:11:45.649 cares. to everybody else, and troubles, and is 00:11:45.649 --> 00:11:49.909 a hoarder, a hoarder of those things. Like that 00:11:49.909 --> 00:11:54.470 room that I described, a room of hoarders. Like 00:11:54.470 --> 00:11:58.549 the addict, like the drug addict or the alcoholic, 00:11:58.889 --> 00:12:02.389 there's momentary happiness, but there's no satisfaction. 00:12:03.929 --> 00:12:07.169 That's the heart that is choked and fragmented, 00:12:07.230 --> 00:12:11.370 and it only takes a little bit less effort. every 00:12:11.370 --> 00:12:17.929 day to find ourselves in that condition. As a 00:12:17.929 --> 00:12:21.929 side note, let me say to you parents, please 00:12:21.929 --> 00:12:27.649 listen clearly to this. Protect your children 00:12:27.649 --> 00:12:32.889 from social media. It's spiritual strangulation, 00:12:33.090 --> 00:12:42.000 emotional strangulation. A 150 % increase in 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:48.279 depression for boys and girls since 2010. A rise 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:53.620 in emergency room visits for self -harm. A 188 00:12:53.620 --> 00:13:00.600 % increase for teen girls and 48 % for boys between 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:05.740 2010 and 2020. These are real statistics. They 00:13:05.740 --> 00:13:08.000 need to be updated, and they're not getting better. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:13.840 You want anxiety and depression? You want false 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:16.340 understanding of relationships? Please protect 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:20.200 your children. This is a certain way to strangle 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:24.419 the heart. St. John of Kronstadt, who we remember 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:27.539 today, the choir sang his Traparin, Kentuckian. 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:30.840 He says this, the grace of God can change any 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:34.230 heart for the better, any heart. any heart for 00:13:34.230 --> 00:13:36.990 the better, accomplishing the miracle of salvation 00:13:36.990 --> 00:13:41.690 in any person, if only that person would believe, 00:13:41.950 --> 00:13:48.909 desire to be saved, and seek salvation. All those 00:13:48.909 --> 00:13:54.409 things involve action. They are verbs. Believe 00:13:54.409 --> 00:13:58.909 is not mental. It means faithfulness. It means 00:13:58.909 --> 00:14:01.870 coming here. It means preparing yourself. It 00:14:01.870 --> 00:14:04.009 means loving God and your neighbor and forgiving 00:14:04.009 --> 00:14:06.750 and loving your enemy. It means all of those 00:14:06.750 --> 00:14:10.629 things. Believe, desire, and seek. It's a great 00:14:10.629 --> 00:14:13.590 tragedy to not actualize those verbs because 00:14:13.590 --> 00:14:20.210 why? When life brings its inevitable suffering, 00:14:20.549 --> 00:14:26.070 or nowadays when it brings challenges to the 00:14:26.070 --> 00:14:33.340 faith that is not mature, In you. Or me. We can 00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:39.220 turn away. The church does not fit us. And we 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:44.679 are mad at God. And upset. And then it's easy 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:47.659 to not come to church. It's easy to not fast 00:14:47.659 --> 00:14:51.299 or to pray. To confess. Read the scriptures. 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:58.179 Because we are challenged. But then. In that 00:14:58.179 --> 00:15:02.720 situation. Is all lost? Absolutely not. Because 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:06.240 God often, as St. Paul said in this epistle today, 00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:11.059 he boasts in his infirmities, in that condition. 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:15.100 Then either the word of God is choked out of 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:21.519 us and we just leave, or glory to God, glory 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.940 to God, that faith blossoms in the heart through 00:15:25.940 --> 00:15:30.070 all that difficulty and then In every instance, 00:15:30.149 --> 00:15:33.049 we begin to rely upon God and not on ourselves, 00:15:33.330 --> 00:15:37.169 and then we can agree with what St. Paul said, 00:15:37.370 --> 00:15:41.230 or what St. Paul, forgive me, was told by Christ. 00:15:41.429 --> 00:15:45.710 My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength 00:15:45.710 --> 00:15:49.029 is made perfect in your weakness. Therefore, 00:15:49.190 --> 00:15:53.230 most gladly, I will boast, rather boast in my 00:15:53.230 --> 00:15:56.450 infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest 00:15:56.450 --> 00:16:01.970 upon me. Wow. Wow. What a statement. It doesn't 00:16:01.970 --> 00:16:05.110 sound like the way most people would boast. In 00:16:05.110 --> 00:16:08.549 the time of trial, challenges, then being faithful, 00:16:08.649 --> 00:16:13.490 which is action, matures us and the heart is 00:16:13.490 --> 00:16:20.250 not only cleansed, but it is enlarged. Jane C. 00:16:20.429 --> 00:16:23.419 Mayer. Some of you might know this Orthodox writer 00:16:23.419 --> 00:16:25.919 has written in her wonderful children's book. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:28.379 I've been told I haven't read the book, actually, 00:16:28.379 --> 00:16:31.059 The Hidden Garden. She wrote this, within every 00:16:31.059 --> 00:16:35.320 heart is a hidden garden. We can neglect it until 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:39.600 the weeds take over and the flowers wither and 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:43.299 die. Or with the help of Christ, we can care 00:16:43.299 --> 00:16:46.700 for it and make it a place of beauty, grace, 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:50.200 and joy. Amen. Amen.