167 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year fully detached your mind from giving thanks for such an exquisite gift! Beware, lest what happened to our first mother Eve also happen to you: Having forgotten to be grateful for the benefit of creation and the gift of Paradise, she began a conversation with the serpent, and thus fell miserably and was expelled from the most blessed Elysian Fields55 (cf. Gen 3:1-6; 23-24). [f.27r] 2. “And some fell into good soil” (Lk 8:8). Do you know what is meant in this quote by the “good soil”? It means a spirit that is just as eager to obey as to listen, and one that is very quick to fulfill the commands of God and of those to whom it subject by law, so that there is no need to repeat them. An obedient religious and Christian are understood here. Just as the farmer calls “good” ground that which gives back with interest every seed sown upon it, so in the mystical sense, we call rightly the “good ground” those who are indiscriminately obedient to whomever it is due; they are the ones who bear the great fruit of obedience. Make therefore every effort to become “good ground,” suitable for every seed, able to produce every kind of fruit. This will happen if you eradicate from your heart and mortify the passions that are contrary to obedience, for these passions are like thorn bushes. 3. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Lk 8:8). Consider that Christ valued the words of His teaching more highly than miracles, and that He wanted us to put these words into practice. For this reason He did not say, “He who has eyes ought to see my miracles and believe,” but said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Neither does He consider blessed, on another occasion, the miracle workers, but those who show obedience and are willing and eager to hear His words. He beatifies them, as it were, by saying, “blessed are they who hear the word of God” (Lk 11:28) [DRB]: They are chosen and predestined. Be ashamed and contrite, because sometimes you have resisted the words and commands of your Superiors, for their words are 55 Elysian Fields is an expression taken from Greek mythology, referring to the dwelling place of the souls of the dead heroes and of all just people. Cf. Jan Tokarski, Ed., Słownik wyrazów obcych PWN, PWN, Warsaw 1980, p. 188.
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