Friday of the 13th Week of Matthew
The reading from the Holy Gospel today is Mark 4: 1-9
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At that time: Jesus began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
St. Theophan the Recluse states confidently that each of us can become the good ground that bears fruit, and he tells us how to do it:
“Behold, there went out a sower to sow.” Since the time that this sower went out to sow, He has not ceased to sow. In the beginning He sowed personally, then through the Apostles and at last through Divine Scripture and divinely-wise teachers. To this day the word of God’s truth is being sown everywhere. Just be prepared to show yourself as good ground and you will be sown without fail. God will raise up what has been sown. How do you make yourself into good ground? With attention and study of the Word of God, sympathy and love toward it, and readiness to immediately carry out what you learn. With such a mindset, not a single word will lie on the surface of your soul, but all will pass within. Uniting there with the elements of the spirit which are native to it, it will take root and sprout. Being nourished then—from above through spiritual inspirations, and from below through good desires and labors—it will grow into a tree, give flower and fruit. God Himself arranged everything around us this way, and this is why we cannot but be amazed at our fruitlessness. But all of this is due to our inattentiveness and carelessness. – Thoughts for Each Day of the Year, p. 182
Becoming the good ground that bears fruit is our path to salvation. If we want to live with God forever, we have to become that good ground. And, behold, here a saint gives us a short to-do list, in plain language, on how to do it: “…attention and study of the Word of God, sympathy and love toward it, and readiness to immediately carry out what you learn.”
The “Word of God” in this context means, in the strict sense, the Holy Scriptures, but in the broader sense it also includes all of the teachings of the Church found in the Holy Fathers, the decisions of the Councils, the Lives of the Saints, the approved catechisms and sermons of the saints on the the doctrines of the Church and on ascetical striving, the inner life of prayer, and so forth – in short, everything that can be called “spiritual reading.” We have to be attentive and studious towards spiritual reading; we have to acquire sympathy and love towards it; we have to be prompt in carrying out what our reading teaches us and inspires us to do. If this happens, we will become the good ground; if it does not, we won’t. Either way, there will be eternal consequences.
The good news is that the Holy Scriptures, and pre-eminently the Holy Gospels, are invested with divine, infinite, and self-acting power. And, in that they illustrate the Gospel with inspired accuracy, according to the mind of the Church, the writings of the saints and approved teachers of the Church also share in this power. We don’t – we can’t – force ourselves to feel the power in these words; we force ourselves simply to be regular in our habit of reading and to fight vigorously against distraction, paying attention to what we are reading. The words themselves do and will act upon us, often without our knowing it.
Perceptible spiritual feeling – the warmth of that sympathy and love for God’s Word that St. Theophan refers to – comes with time and patience, as a gift of grace and according to God’s will and perfect knowledge of what is good for us at what time. We must be patient, and all good gifts that we need for our salvation will be given in time.
When those precious moments occur in which we are given a genuine spiritual insight during our daily reading, we must cherish this holy thought – think of it throughout the day and as we go to bed at night, repeating it to ourselves mentally, until the heart is drawn to the thought. And we must ask the Lord to show us how to put it into action, with zeal according to knowledge, so that we do not act in a self-willed fashion. He will not disappoint us. It may be the action of prayer; it may be the action of hating a bad habit and fighting it; it may be the action of practicing an active virtue in showing love to our neighbor in a concrete way.
The Almighty God and Lord of all is thinking about me this very moment, desiring me with all of His divine desire, and willing eagerly to give me every spiritual insight needed for my salvation. What am I waiting for?
