The Holy Martyrs Proclus and Hilary (98-117); Venerable Father Michael of Maleon (961)
Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read
Romans 16:1-16; Matthew 13:3-9
God gives his love without distinction much like the sower in today’s parable. John Chrysostom remarks in this way: “For as the sower makes no distinction in the land submitted to him, but simply and indifferently casts his seed; so He Himself too makes no distinction of rich and poor, of wise and unwise, of slothful or diligent, of brave or cowardly.”
This recalls the image of Isaiah 55, which speaks of God sending forth his word like rain upon the earth:
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:10-11
God’s Word is instantiated in Jesus Christ, whom Origen aptly calls the “word abbreviated.” His walking among us preaches with his very presence changing the fabric of existence by his incarnate life, cultivating the first fruits of the new creation here on earth. Like the sower, he spreads his seed, but he works with the land, tilling it so that it might not be choked out by rocky ground. He protects it so that the seed might not be swept away by the birds.
Let us make ourselves good ground, that the Lord, the gardener of all creation, might cultivate his word in us.