The Sower and Our Cross

Welcome to Hill Country Homilies. Weekly homilies from Holy Anunciation

Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an

old calendar Orthodox Church sharing the faith of the Apostles

and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,

let's listen to this week's homily.

When's the our talk? A holed the readings this morning?

I had intended to preach about the state backing unit

the council, but and here's female the archbishop covered it completely,

so there's no reason for me agree about it.

Although if you haven't read the email, please you read it.

Very goodness, is Zara informative.

I will see greely about the parable several.

Us. Our Lord already explains what it means, and I

certainly can't.

Explain it any better than our Lord has, but I'll

I'll give a shot. The Lord in of course, and.

Soar as he talks about in in the Gospel, and

he continues his ministry through the successors of.

The apostles and the bishops, and the bishops who pass

on the ministry to us the priests.

Now, of course it's up with all Christians in their

own way to spread and the sea. But mostly it's

you know, you bring your friends and family to church, and.

Then we try to die them as best as we can.

But when when Lord talks about the sea here in

the in the terrible.

The sea by the west side, are they here in.

The devil times and takes the word out of our hearts,

sciatic believe and be safe? Well, that's that's terribly obvious

that you know, the devil does not want to be

of us to achieve salvation, to.

Be saved by our prosn gorge, and so he does

whatever he can to take the word of God out

of our hearts. And then.

After the the Lord says that the on the rock,

they they can receive more of joy, but they have

no roots. In other words, they receive the Gospel on

a surface level. It doesn't penetrate into their hearts. And

so when temptation comes, and it will He's come, they're

quick to pass aside.

They're crossed and go about and see worldly with the

pleasures which he he speaks about later. The key.

Is that even if we don't want to, we must

take up our cross every single day and follow after

the Lord.

It's not easy. This may sound like when you first

hear the parable. It may sound like a one kind

of thing, but no, this is actually a terrible of

the spiritual life. That is a daily occurrence.

It's not that the sower is sowing the seed once

and then it's okay, one and done. No, it is

rather a daily or thing that the seed, the word

of God is invited to come into our hearts, but

we have to respond to it daily. And the way

that we do that is by preparing the soil.

The soil, of course is our parts. And now how

do we prepare the soil? Well, anything that are gardening,

You know anything about gardening, you know that you have

to kill the soil. You have to break it up

and make it so that it is receptive to the

seeds that plants. Now, how do you do that in

Christian life?

Well, you begin by a forced prayer and by being

practicing the virtues be kind to your neighbor.

But also most importantly it's coming to church.

Maybe use the sacraments, especially the sacraments of confession.

And nuperous is very important. This is how we till

the soil of our hearts and how we prepare to

receive the Word of God in an honest.

And good heart, have con heard the word and keeping

it and bringing forth fruit with patience.

Again, I much stress to you this is not a

one and done thing.

This is the.

Spiritual life and the daily struggle. In the Gospel Awful

Rosl Jesus.

Said, let anyone who would just come after me, let

you deny himself, take a his cross and follow me.

But there is I I believe it's Mars Sospool, or

maybe not re Gospel, where he.

Says, let anyone who wus tonacy, let him deny himself

daily and take up his cross and follow me. So

the spiritual life is a process of daily self.

Denial and of daily taken after cross. It becomes easy

and very tempting. As Lord says, here to fall on

thorns when they have heard, go forward in our choke

with the cares and riches and the pleasures of this life.

We wants.

Everyone wants to go to heaven. Let doone wants to die? Right? Hm? Hm,

and it it.

There's an inscription of one of the monasteries in an

alcos that says, give you the.

Die before you die, you will not die when you die.

And this means, of course that if you die to

yourself and you take up your cross fall of Christ.

You went, you're into the kingdom of heaven.

When you have physical death, which it is something that

we all eventually have to face, but some of us,

all of.

Us really, it's not just lay people. It's months if

priests and all of us. We're tempted to say, well.

We want the good things now, we want the good

things of heaven hero on earth, because the earth provides

good things and pleasures for us. So let's have that

now and then later when we're older and we're hearing that,

we can focus on dependence and uh, you know, the

spiritual life. What you don't understand is when you're older,

you won't have the strength of the opportunity to seek

retendance from the spiritual life.

An example, my grandmother do not turn seventy nine years old.

She's been Orthodox for a number of years, and she's

no to me. She said, father, which she didn't call

me father, be for the safe, but this one was

that she probably fothered. Uh, she said, Father. I wish

that I had been kind of Orthodoxical so much sooner,

because I learned there's so much to learn and there's

so much that is asked of me and my body

and my brain is one plombia.

And it basically said, because I know in her heart

she wants to follow.

The serious class. She does her best. She doesn't she

was better than me, frankly, and just to put up

to me, that's another thing. But she she does her best.

And sam Dust, he says in his class at work

the confessions late have I loved be a Lord? Saying

God's sort of aggoing.

My grandma all my Grandma's been a been a Christian

for a whole life, but only recently in the last

few years.

Nor by Christ.

You know this, this appreciation for uh not struggling when

we had the strength yea to do so.

And so that's what I really wanted to encourage you

this morning.

To do, is to remember that this what our work

says here is a continuous action.

It's the spiritual life, and that we must daily tell

the soil and let the seed that.

The sower brings to us, the word of God, take

root in our hearts with clear it's clear the forms.

Till the soil, break up the rough patches, and let

the seed to take.

Group in our hearts daily so that we may enter

into you know part time.

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