Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feasts of the Resurrection of the Lord and the memory of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council!

In today’s Gospel reading, we heard the familiar parable about the sower, as well as the explanation of this parable by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It would seem that if the Saviour Himself explained this parable, there is no particular need for a sermon on this Gospel excerpt, but of course, there is much that can be discussed and thought on. In this parable Christ mentions four different types of soil into which seeds are sown. The first type is trampled, compacted earth, the paths upon which the farmer walks. The Devil, like the birds in the field, with ease collects the seeds, that is the Word of God, and carries them away. This type of heart belongs to proud, stubborn people, who are unable to hear anything new, any idea that is not their own, and are therefore unable to accept the Gospel into their souls. Seeds also fell onto stony ground. Naturally, in this type of soil nothing will grow for long, because the plant will lack the roots which can find nourishing moisture under the rocks. The Lord Jesus Christ likens people with a superficial faith to this stony soil. These people fall away when temptations arise. In today’s Christ also speaks of the earth in which sprouted not only wheat, but also weeds, which choked the good seeds. In other words, worldly cares do not give a person the opportunity to grow spiritual fruits. The final type of soil is good earth which brings a rich harvest.

Probably few of us could say that their heart is like that good soil which brought forth a plentiful harvest. We all suffer from stubbornness and a superficial spiritual life. We are all very preoccupied with earthly things. It is for this reason that our spiritual lives suffer, and we see no particular fruit or even sprouts come up. This does not mean that we are finished, for any person who has grown anything, be it tomatoes in their backyard or house plants in the corner of a room, knows that many problems can be remedied, so that even a poor parcel of land can bring at least a modest harvest.

Therefore, let each of us step forward and begin to work. We must plow the soil of our heart; in other words, we have to break up the hardness of our pride with humility. Similarly, we must remove the stones from the field so that the seeds can send down roots into the deep and find the needed moisture, i. e. we should study our faith and especially the Word of God. In the 21st century this is very easy to do, since many of the writings of the Holy Fathers on the Gospels and the other books of the New and Old Testaments are available for free on the internet. To reach this ‘living water,’ that is, these texts and to master that knowledge which is found in them, one must first weed one’s personal spiritual field and remove at least some of one’s worldly cares. Probably each of us would agree that we waste too much time on the internet. Imagine how much we could improve our knowledge of Holy Scripture if we dedicated half or even a quarter of the time we find ourselves on the internet to reading explanations of the Word of God, instead of to the news, shopping, or superficial socializing on social media?

Let’s pray to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Sower, that He stretch out a strong helping hand so that we have the strength to prepare a fertile spiritual field, so that our hearts can bring forth at the right time a plentiful spiritual harvest.

priest Alexis