The Holy Venerable-Martyr Febronia
Apostles’ Fast.
Read
Romans 16:17-24; Matthew 13:10-23
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the Gospel accounts of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see that he employs the use of parables quite often. These simple stories offer us various moral or spiritual lessons that are to help us in our day to day lives as we encounter various people and are met with various dilemmas or challenges.
In order to benefit from and understand the lessons found in these parables, we must attentively listen to them as they are proclaimed or when we read them. It is not enough for us to hear the word of God, we must listen to it; both with our ears and also with our hearts, so that we may understand how the Lord is asking us to live as His followers.
Brothers and sisters, there is a reason that the Deacon exclaims “Let us be attentive” before both the Epistle and the Gospel. He exclaims those words to remind us of our responsibility to listen to the word of God with attention, not just a passive hearing.