Tuesday, July 19 (6), 2022

1Cor.1:1-9; Mt. 13:24-30

Good seed has been sown, but “the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat” [Mt. 13:25]. In the Church the tares are various heresies and schisms, while in every one of us they are evil thoughts, emotions, desires and passions. 

We accept the good seed of the word of God, we resolve to live a holy life and indeed begin it, but then we fall asleep, ─ that is, lower our attention to ourselves, ─ and the enemy of our salvation comes and sows evil thoughts in our souls.  If they are not spotted and removed up front, then they ripen into evil desires and inclinations, they spawn their own little world inside our heart, a domain of evil interlaced with the domain of good.  And they remain together, inseparable one from another, until the time of the harvest.

This harvest means repentance. The Lord sends His angels ─ a sense of regret and the fear of God; they emerge like a sickle, cut down and set ablaze all the tares and burn them up in flames of our grueling self-reproach.  Now only the pure wheat remains in the granary of the heart, to our own joy, to the joy of the angels and of the good Lord Who is worshipped in Holy Trinity.