St. Theophan: Thoughts: June 20/ July 3

(1 Cor. 1:1-9; Matt. 13:24-30) The good seed had been sown but the enemy came and sowed tares in with the wheat. Tares are heresies and schisms in the Church and in every one of us bad thoughts, feelings, desires, and passions. A man that accepts the good seed, the words of God, decides to live a holy life and begins to live such. When such a man sleeps, that is, relaxes attention to himself, then comes the enemy of salvation and embeds in him bad thoughts which, not having been repelled in the beginning, ripen in desires and dispositions and they take their circle of deeds and propositions, having intermixed with good actions, feelings and thoughts. They are as such, both together, until the harvest. This harvest is confession. The Lord sends angels, feelings of destruction and fear of God and they, having appeared like a sickle, gather up all the tares and throw them in the fire of self-condemnation. The pure wheat remains in the granary of the heart to the joy of man, the angels and the all good God worshiped in Trinity.

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