Sermon on the last-but-one Sunday before Lent, Sexagesima

Sermon of friar Thomas on Sexagesima.

Luke 8:5

A sower went out to sow his seed.

Prologue

Because our sermon is about a spiritual sowing, let us call upon the one who sows, our Lord Jesus Christ, who makes trustworthy people servants of this sowing; let us call upon him, so that he may give me something to say, et cetera.

Sermon

A sower went out, et cetera. Holy Mother the Church is a vineyard and a field, for the spiritual fruits of the Church, which are the works of justice, are wine as well as bread.¹ Wine, because these fruits make joyful: for wine makes joyful, as Psalm 104:15 reads and in Proverbs 13:9 it says: the light of the just ones makes joyful. They are bread, because they make us strong; Psalm 104:15: and bread strengthens a man’s heart. And in Proverbs 12:12 we read: the root of the just ones will not be shaken.

There is one winegrower, one farmer of this vineyard and field, namely, Christ. I am the true vine, he says insofar as he is a man,¹ and my Father is the winegrower (John 15:1); and insofar as I am God, I am the winegrower with him;² that is to say, as Augustine says: this winegrower is the whole of the Trinity who plants this vineyard and this field.³ Thus it says in Jeremiah 2:21: I have planted you as a chosen vineyard, every seed.

Bernard says: let us sow an example for the people through good works, out in the open, as we read (in Matt 5:16): ‘thus may your light shine before the people, that they may see your good works (and praise your Father in heaven).’¹ For, on account of the hidden sighs and the like which are only known to them, the joy of God’s angels is great over one sinner who repents, as Luke 15:10 says.

Because of this the Apostle said in Romans 12:17 (Vg): ‘caring for doing good things not only before God but also before the people.’ He said, ‘before God,’ meaning: before the ones who serve in the sight of God.¹ For it pleases them to the highest extent when they see us pray in secret or go over a certain psalm again and again or do something like that. You too, sow! Because many before you have sown. O descendants of Adam, how many have sowed in you and how precious the seed; how disastrously will you perish, and how justly, if so great a seed perishes in you together with the effort of the sowing. You will be handed over to this destruction by the farmer (cf. Matt 3:10, John 15:2), if these seeds perish in you altogether (cf. Luke 8:5b–7). The whole Trinity has sown on our earth, the angels have sown in like manner, and the apostles, the martyrs and the confessors, and the virgins have sown.²

The Father has sown peace from heaven; the Son, truth; and the Holy Spirit, love.¹ The angels have also sown, because they have stood by others who were falling (cf. 1 Kgs 19:5, 7–8).² It is obvious that the martyrs have sown strength; the confessors, the justice which they have followed during their whole life; and the virgins, temperance, because they have scorned lust.³

Now there are three things that must be considered here:

first, this seed;

second, who the sower is;

and third, the sowing, what and of what nature it is.¹

1. So first we must pay attention to the question what that seed is. Well, we cannot say that this seed is anything else than what the Lord says: the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). Note that [Jesus] distinctly says: his seed, that is, the seed of the Son of God. This is good seed. The seed that is not his, is bad seed, of which Isaiah 17:10 speaks: tares, as it is called in the Gospel (Matt 13:25–30).

We must carefully consider what that seed is because it saves us from sin. Thus we read in 1 John 3:9: everyone who is born from God does not sin, because the seed of God is in him.

But how can we know whether it is [God’s] seed? I say in the same way as we know that a certain seed is a seed of a particular herb. Well, we know this in three ways:

(1.1) first, because that seed is coming from that herb;

(1.2) second, because the seed is borne in it;

(1.3) third, because it brings forth such an herb.

Hence the seed of Christ is from Christ, which has also appeared in Christ and makes someone similar to Christ, or which leads to Christ. Therefore, the seed of Christ is the seed that is from him as well as in him as well as leading towards him.

1.1. Let us look at the first. I say that the seed of a certain herb is the seed that comes from it. Thus we read in Genesis 1:11: let the earth put forth the green plant which produces its seed according to its own kind. But what seed is coming from the Lord Jesus Christ? I say that the word of wisdom is coming from him. Hence it says in Sirach 1:5 (Vg): the fountain of wisdom is God’s Word in the highest.¹ Hence whatever pertains to the heavenly wisdom that is in the highest, is a word of wisdom or a seed of God.

But St. James says in 3:15 that there is a wisdom that is not from above; it is earthly, beastly, diabolic.¹

Earthly wisdom is the wisdom that is totally occupied with acquiring earthly things. So if you are confronted with a word that stimulates you to acquire earthly things, it is not a seed of God.

Furthermore, beastly wisdom is totally focused on pursuing the pleasure of the body. So, if you are confronted with such a doctrine, you know that it is not a seed of God and that you should not believe it. It is said in Malachi 2:15: what does one look for, but where the seed of God is?

And which is the diabolic knowledge? Job 41:34 reads, it is king over all the children of pride. So the wisdom that is totally focused on being proud is diabolic.¹ So if someone confronts you with such a doctrine, it is not a seed of Christ. Hence the Apostle says: my words and my preaching do not come from error or uncleanness (2 Thess 2:3).²

St. James says in 3:17: the wisdom that is from above is first of all modest. Next, it is peaceful; it does not bring about disagreements. Hence whatever brings about disagreements and is against peace and wisdom from above, is not a seed of God. And it is certain that whenever a teaching leads to rectitude of the virtues,¹ it is a teaching of Christ, whereas if it leads towards the corruption of the good, it is not a teaching of Christ. Therefore, it says in Proverbs 8:8: all my words are just, and nothing in them is crooked or perverted.²

So, first, a seed of something is what comes from it.

1.2. Second, a seed of something is what is in it. Hence it says in Genesis 1:11: let the earth put forth the green plant which produces its fruit whose seed is in itself. So any teaching that is in Christ is the seed of God. Psalm 109:3 (Vg): in the splendor of the saints I brought you forth from the womb before daybreak.¹ The splendors of the saints are the radiance of the virtues. Well, every radiance of the virtues is derived from the Son of God, just as an example is from the exemplar, for in him all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Col 2:3).²

But you could say: “this does not apply to me, for I cannot see the Word in its eternity.” Therefore, it is sufficiently provided for us: that Word has become man, and this [Word that has become man] shows us the example of each teaching of his, whence we read in John 1:14: the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. Augustine comments on this: God’s wisdom itself is made an example in a man whom it has taken on: an example for the people of returning up above and abiding with the angels.¹ So if someone came and confronted you with a doctrine whose exemplar is not in Christ, it is not a seed of God.

Jovinian came to Rome and preached that being married must be regarded as equal to virginity,¹ although Christ wanted to have a virginal mother and chose her, and although he loved the virginal disciple to the highest extent.² The heretic Vigilantius preached in France that the state of the rich who give alms is equal to poverty.³ This teaching is [also] not in Christ, who became very poor for our sake (cf. 2 Cor 8:9).

Augustine says in the book The Christian Struggle: someone who contemplates the things Christ said and did does not miss this perversion; he loves¹ and thoroughly examines the things said and done by that man, in whom the Son of God offers himself as the example for our life. Thus all men and women, every age and dignity have run to the hope of eternal life: some have run to the divine things, as they do not care about temporal things. Others proceed by their virtues: they practice them and praise what they cannot fulfill. A few, however, murmur and are tormented by too much envy: either they seek after things for themselves in the Church, although they seem to be Catholics, or they are heretics who seek honor in the very name of Christ.²

Also St. Gregory says: there are several people in the Church who not only do not do good things, but even counteract the good things in others and detest the things in others which they themselves neglect to do. Their actions do not come from weakness or ignorance, but they do this because they are determined to do so.¹ When done with determination, it is a sin against the Holy Spirit, as the teachers say.

1.3. Third, we know whose seed it is when it leads to the same thing. The seed of a tree has the strength to produce a similar tree.¹ Hence it says in Genesis 1:11: let the earth put forth the green plant which produces its seed according to its own kind. The strength of a species to bring forth is located in the seed,² whence it says in John 10:35: he has called them gods to whom God’s words were spoken. When you hear God’s words with your ear and you love them with your heart and actually fulfill them with works, then God’s words were spoken to you (cf. Matt 13:23, Luke 8:15). But it is true that the life of the saints is slandered, as we read in Wisdom 5:4–5: we, foolish, considered their lives madness and their end without good. But behold how they are reckoned among the children of God. It proceeds: hence, we have strayed from the way of truth (Wis 5:6). I come to the conclusion: therefore you ought to imitate Jesus Christ, so that you may become like him (cf. Song 1:8 [Vg]).

Hence Augustine says, in The Christian Struggle: if you have a high opinion of yourself, may you not scorn imitating him who will be called Son of the Most High. If you think little of yourself, dare to imitate the fishermen and the tax-collectors who have imitated Christ.¹

So the first point is clear, the one about the seed.

2. Now it remains to speak about the second thing, namely, the sower, because it is said that a sower went out.

Who is the one who went out? With certain authority it is Christ, in whose service all teachers are. Isaiah 32:20 says about them: happy are you who sow beside the waters.¹

This sower, Christ, went out because he wanted to sow. Thus other preachers must go out. There is, however, a difference between Christ and these preachers.

For Christ went out in one single movement in order to teach thereupon, whereas a preacher ought to go out time and again. Christ went out from the hidden bosom of the Father. He says: I have gone out from the Father, not because he had left the Father behind, but because he was made visible, and I have come into the world (John 16:28), although he was there already, but now he appeared as visible.¹ But when? Early in the morning.² Hence it says in the Gospel that the paterfamilias went out early in the morning, at the first hour, to hire workers for his vineyard (Matt 20:1).

Now for a preacher it is necessary to go out in a twofold way:

2.1. in the first way, by leaving the state of guilt, because it must not be so that a preacher preaches to others what he is not doing himself.¹ Psalm 50:16 reads: yet, to the sinner God has said: ‘why do you speak of my justice?’ Why do you preach that we must not steal, if you are stealing yourself, and that we must not commit adultery, if you are committing adultery?² Therefore, we ought to leave the state of guilt, as the Apostle says: go out from their midst and separate yourself from their situation and do not touch anything unclean (2 Cor 6:17).³

But whither should we go out when we leave sin? Certainly to Christ, that is, to the Passion of Christ. As the Apostle says: let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach (Heb 13:13), that is, his cross.¹ The Apostle says that the old man is crucified with him, so that the body of sin may be destroyed (Rom 6:6).

When should we go out? Early in the morning. Therefore, it is said, in time of trouble, rise early in the morning (e.g., 1 Sam 29:10),¹ and elsewhere: do not hesitate to be converted to the Lord, and do not delay it day after day (Sir 5:7), and in Sirach 21:1: have you sinned? Do not turn to it again.

2.2. The other going out that is necessary for a preacher is leaving the world.¹ And this is signified in John 4:28–29, where it says that the woman left her water jar and went to announce Christ. Augustine expounds this, saying that someone who wants to preach ought to leave the water jar behind, meaning the cupidity of the world, at least the affections that accompany it, so that he does not love the cupidity either because of the affection or because of its effect.²

About this going out, the Lord says in Genesis 12:1 to Abraham: leave your land and your kindred and your father’s house, meaning: let go of whatever is earthly and can be loved, and come into the land that I will show unto you. It is remarkable that he says this, for the law does not lead anyone to perfection (cf. Heb 7:19), and the way of the counsels had not yet been shown.

Therefore, the Lord has said to someone who had observed the commandments: one thing is missing for you; if you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me (Matt 19:21).¹ Come into the land (Gen 12:1): certainly that is the land of vision or contemplation, which is characteristic of the religious life.

But when should we come into that land? Early in the morning, that is, in our youth. Psalm 5:3: early in the morning I will stand before you and I will see you. Jerome’s translation from the Hebrew text reads: and I will contemplate you.¹ Isaiah 50:4–5: early in the morning he excites my ear, that I may hear him as my teacher. The Lord has opened my ear, and I have not talked back. Now because a lord has the authority and a teacher has wisdom, he has opened my ear as he came to my ear.

You will say: “I may not do what is said to me, for someone might call me an unlucky, senseless boy.”¹ Against this Isaiah 51:7 says: fear not the people’s reproaches or their blasphemies. Augustine says: let the boys who vowed modesty rejoice.²

You will say: “I only have a word, but I need an example.”¹ May the holy boy Benedict come to mind then, who, after leaving his parents behind and temporal goods as well as his nurse, wisely retreated and took up a remote hermitage.² If this is not enough for you, let the saintlier boy John the Baptist come to your mind, of whom it says in Luke 1:80: the boy John grew and became strong, and he lived in deserted places until the day of his public appearance.³ If even that is not enough for you, let the holiest boy Jesus come to your mind, who, when he was twelve years of age, stayed behind [in Jerusalem] unbeknownst to his parents, and was found in the midst of teachers (Luke 2:41–43, 46).

But you will say: “three things warn me that I should not leave the world in my youth:¹

2.2.1. the first is that one must gradually come to perfection, for no one becomes the best at once.”¹ But, my dearest,² you have less to do to come to perfection in your old age. The Apostle says: may we be brought to the perfect one (cf. Eph 4:13 and Heb 7:19). Some want to become soldiers, others house-builders, et cetera. But there is no one who eagerly desires a certain state without eagerly desiring it in his youth, if he wants to be perfect in that state.³

Hence may you from the beginning of your age start with leaving the world, because no matter how much a person makes progress, he always grows. Besides, it is easy to do the things that have become a habit for us from our youth.

Because of this it says in Lamentations 3:27: it would be good for a man, if he carried the yoke from his adolescence, and in Proverbs 22:6: train an adolescent along his way; even when he is old, he will not recede from it.¹

But you will say “adolescence and pleasure, as it is said in Ecclesiastes 11:10 (Vg), are empty.”¹ I say that that book is written by way of conclusion, and it has two conclusions: one of the wise and one of the foolish. The conclusion of the foolish is: rejoice, young man, in your adolescence and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes (Eccl 11:9). The other conclusion leads to this advice: do not go after your lusts; if you give in to the lusts of your soul, those will hand you over to the joy of your enemies (Sir 18:30–31). This other conclusion is the one of the wise people: remember your Creator in your youth (Eccl 12:1).²

2.2.2. But you will say: “another thing reminds me why I do not want to leave the world from my youth on: I do not know whether it is from the Holy Spirit,¹ because the saint is usually not brought out in boys.” Well, the Holy Spirit has the freedom from the Father and the Son to blow where he will (cf. John 3:8), and you want to block his paths? Ambrose says: this Spirit is not bent back by ages, nor limited by death, and it is not excluded from the womb.² Gregory: I want to consider how this Holy Spirit is a master artist, and I fail in my very consideration, because he fulfills a boy who plays the cither and makes a psalmist, he fulfills a shepherd of herds who picks mulberries and makes a prophet, he fulfills a boy who fasts,³ things which he mentioned in a homily for Pentecost⁴ and which you have heard before in a sermon on the Holy Spirit.⁵

You will say: “it is not through the Holy Spirit that boys leave the world behind, because many boys are converted, yet do not persevere in religious life; but if it had been from God, they would have stayed in the order.”¹ Be careful, because if you understand this in a perverted way, you give way to the Manichaeans. Mani says that God is not the author of corruptible things and that what comes from God is not destroyed. This heretic² also says that grace once possessed cannot be lost. In answer to these things we must explain: God’s works are thoroughly corruptible; it also happens that someone receives the grace of entering religious life, but that the Lord does not give him the gift to persevere—but this does not alter the fact that it comes from God. It is true that the plan of God is not destroyed; it remains forever (cf. Ps 33:11).³

2.2.3. But you will say: “another thing reminds me why I do not want to leave the world behind in my youth: I am a boy, so I cannot carry arms.”¹ The arms of religious life are not the arms of Saul (cf. 1 Sam 26:7–8, 31:9–10), but the arms of David (cf. 1 Sam 17:45; cf. Ps 35:1–3, Wis 5), that is, the arms of Christ (cf. Rom 13:12, 2 Cor 10:4–5). The arms of Saul are the observances of the Old Law, which are heavy arms. Hence St. Peter says: this is a burden that neither we nor our fathers could carry (Acts 15:10). The observances of the New Law² and religious life³ are light arms, whence the Lord says: my yoke is sweet and my burden is light (Matt 11:30).

Therefore, early in the morning we ought to leave the world behind and come to Christ. But what will be our fruit? Certainly, attainment of the kingdom of heaven. Thus the Lord says in the Gospel: allow the little ones to come to me, for of such people is the Kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:14).¹

Evening Collation

2.3. A sower went out (Luke 8:5), et cetera. Today we spoke about the seed and about the sower’s double way of going out. It remains now to speak about the sower’s third way of going out,¹ that is, preaching, because a preacher ought to go out from hidden contemplation and go to the public [field] of preaching,²

for a preacher first ought to draw in contemplation what he will pour out later on in preaching.¹ Hence it says in Isaiah 12:3–4: with joy you shall draw water, that is, with the joy of contemplation,² from the fountains of the Savior—that is, from divine wisdom (cf. Wis 1:5 [Vg])—and then you will say on that day, after you have drawn: give thanks to the Lord (e.g., Ps 33:2, 106:1), et cetera. This going out is very similar to the Savior’s going out from the secret dwelling place of the Father to the public area of what is visible.³ Therefore, it says in Song of Songs 7:10: I am here for my beloved, and he is turned towards me, namely, in the hidden realm of contemplation.

There are two things that can turn the soul towards God: devout prayer and contemplation;¹ and through internal speech God is turned to the soul.² Hence the soul says: my beloved is mine, and I am his (Song 2:16). But will we not always be here? No.³ Therefore, he says: come, my beloved, let us go out in the field (Song 2:10), meaning: the public field of the preaching; let us remain, when we preach, in the country houses (Song 7:11), that is, with the people who are open to the preaching (cf. Luke 10:5–9). Note that when he says let us remain, a particular familiarity of God with the preacher is indicated; let us go out: I by inspiring you, and you by preaching.⁴

When shall we go out? Let us go out early in the morning to the vineyards;¹ in the same way Christ went out early in the morning, as we read in the Gospel: he went out most early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard (Matt 20:1).

We read that Christ went out at three hours, namely, at the third hour early in the morning, at the sixth hour, and at the ninth hour. And Gregory says that the fact that he hired workers early in the morning signifies that he converts boys in the first period of life.¹ It is said in Ecclesiastes 11:6: sow your seed early in the morning and let your hand not be inactive in the evening. By early in the morning, a young age is signified; by in the evening, old age. Some say that boys must not preach. Against them it says: sow your seed early in the morning. Others say that old men must not preach, because they are hardened. Against them it says: let your hand not be inactive in the evening. Boys as well as old men must preach, because you do not know whether the latter or the former seed comes up, and if both come up it is even better (Eccl 11:6).

You will say: “you must not summon such people nor lead them to religious life, according to a sentence passed by the Lord, who says: you have gone round sea and dry land to make one proselyte (Matt 23:15), et cetera.”¹ May you see that the meaning of this is that some go round sea and dry land to convert others. This is praiseworthy. Thus the Lord says: go into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). This was already announced beforehand by Isaiah, who says in 27:6: and they will enter from Jacob with force and fill the face of the earth with seed.²

What is meant by what follows: and you make him a son of Gehenna, twice as bad as yourselves (Matt 23:15)? Concerning whom do we understand this?

It is explained by the saints¹ in two ways.

First, concerning the Jews and the scribes. Chrysostom says that it is understood concerning the Jews and the scribes who keep the statutes of the Old Law.¹ And why do they make [the newly converted proselyte] a son of Gehenna twice as bad as themselves?² This is not because they have sinned by converting others, but because they led others to sinning by bad examples.³ And why does it say twice as bad as yourselves?⁴ Chrysostom says that a disciple sins more carelessly when he sees a teacher sinning, and, just as a preacher who gives an example of a bad life is to be condemned, so is the one who gives an example of a good life to be praised.⁵

Another interpretation with authority is the explanation by Jerome, who says that these words concern the Pharisees and scribes who, being under the Old Law, converted others to circumcision: these sin in a double way, because they let go of the law of Christ (cf. Gal 6:2, 15) and because they want to be circumcised.¹

You will say: “it is good for boys to preach, so that they let go of the secular world and come to Christ in religious life, but it is not good to attract or allure them with temporal benefits, because Scripture says that the Jews are not attracted to the faith by threats, terrors, and benefits.¹ But Scripture does not say that they cannot be allured by flattery” (cf. Prov 29:5).²

Twofold is the Covenant, namely, Old and New: under the Old Covenant God promised temporal things, promises which we make to little children who are allured by benefits. Thus he said: if you are willing and listen to me, you will eat the goods of the earth (Isa 1:19). Still some among the people were spiritual, like David, who clung to God because of God, whence he said: yet for me it is good to cling to God (Ps 73:28),¹ et cetera. Likewise, he said: one thing I have asked from the Lord, for this I long: that I may live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life (Ps 27:4).

Likewise, under the New Covenant there are some perfect people who do not want to be allured by temporal things. Others are imperfect men who are allured also by temporal things.¹ Therefore, regulations are given in the Church, so that they would be led by the hand to come to the liturgy of the hours. Let it not be so that they go [and pray] because of these [temporal] things, but that they become more kind-hearted and lead a happier life.²

You will say: “it is allowed to attract boys to religious life, but not to let them take vows.”¹ Why not? You will say: “because many who had taken vows returned [into the world].”² I then will say what the Apostle says: will the unbelief of those make the faith empty? (Rom 3:3). He says in so many words: No. If someone gives up the religious life, others are not to be bound any less to the religious life. Christ called many disciples, and many returned [into the world] (cf. John 6:66). Philip the Apostle called Simon the magician, and yet he left and went back (Acts 8:9–24).³

The net is twofold: the one is that through which some are brought to eternal life, about which we read in John 21:11: the net was full of great fishes. The other one is that through which some are brought to religious life; in this one good and evil people are brought together, the ones who are known beforehand and the ones who are predestined (cf. Matt 20:14). There is a place in the Gospel where we read about this: the Kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet thrown in the sea and gathering fish of every kind (Matt 13:47), et cetera.

You will say: “many have entered and left and remained in the world and became good bishops and good archdeacons.” It cannot be that someone who did not fulfill his vow would be a good bishop. The bishop of Geneva had made a vow about joining religious life, and the Pope says that he cannot have a sound conscience unless he resigns the episcopate and enters religious life.¹

3. It is clear what has been said about the seed and the going-out of the sower. It remains that we look at the sowing itself, about which we must say two things:

(3.1) the first is what hinders the sowing;

(3.2) the second is about the fruit of the sowing.

3.1. Concerning the first we must note that there is a triple hindrance for the sowing on behalf of those for whom the seed is sown:

(3.1.1) the first is emptiness of the affection;

(3.1.2) the second, hardness of the heart;

and (3.1.3) the third, fierce concupiscence or cupidity.¹

3.1.1. I say the first hindrance for sowing is emptiness (or the vanity) of the affection. Some have a heart so empty and so ready to sin that they immediately consent to sin when it is proposed to them. And about these it says in Psalm 4:3: sons of men, till how long do you, with a heavy heart, love emptiness and do you seek after lies? They are empty and worldly, because they promise things that they cannot fulfill. Such people surrender their seducible heart to every sin. These are signified by the road, where the seed does not bear fruit (Luke 8:5). Isaiah 51:23 reads: you have lain down on the ground, as if your body were a road for travelers. On this road seed cannot bear fruit nor can it prosper. Hence it says in Ezekiel 33:31–32: they hear your words, but do not do them, since they turn them into the song of their own mouth, for they say: “this one blesses, that one curses,” and their heart follows avarice,¹ and you are for them like a musical song that is sung with a pleasing and sweet sound; they hear your words, but do not do them.

Twofold is the danger when seed is sown on the road,¹ because it is trampled upon and eaten by the birds (Luke 8:5). In this way the seed of God’s word is trampled upon by the bad examples of people who are your companions, and it is eaten up by the evil plans of demons and so the fruit is lost.² Thus it says in Psalm 89:41: all who passed him on the way have plundered him, et cetera.

3.1.2. The second hindrance is on account of the fact that seed does not bear fruit when it is sown over rock.¹ Rocks are hard and solid things, which are held together on their own terms. Who has no love but for himself has a hard heart, and a hard heart will behave badly in a very young person (Sir 3:27).² If it is sown in a hard place, the seed does not take root deeply. Thus some take up a good plan, but have a hard heart, and therefore it does not stay with them long. Therefore, the Apostle says: but in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you store up the wrath for yourself for the day of the revelation of the just judgment (Rom 2:5).

3.1.3. The third hindrance that does not allow the seed to bear fruit is concupiscence or cupidity. Someone hears God’s word, places it in his heart, lets it take deep root, and then concupiscence or cupidity of having a thing overpowers it: it puts down whatever man considers good. These sow over thorns (Luke 8:7). Against them the Lord says in Jeremiah 4:3: renew your fallow land, and do not sow over thorns. Those who want to sow remove thorns, and so you ought to remove every concupiscence or cupidity, as the Apostle did, who says: I chastise my body, and I bring it back to servitude (1 Cor 9:27). Passions of the soul are called thorns (cf. 2 Cor 12:7), because, as thorns mutilate the body, so the passions of cupidity mutilate the soul. In Genesis 3:17–18 it says: cursed is the land in view of your work. It will bring forth thorns and thistles for you. This is because of the sin of the first parent.

These are the hindrances for the fruit-bearing of the seed.¹

3.2. It comes to pass [in Luke 8:8], however, that the earth in which it is sown is good—and then it produces a triple crop:

(3.2.1) thirty-fold,

(3.2.2) sixty-fold,

and (3.2.3) hundred-fold.

3.2.1. When does it produce a thirty-fold crop? I say that when people hear God’s word, it produces a triple crop. Some are converted, so that they pursue the fruit that [converted people] necessarily bring forth.

This is the thirty-fold crop. Now the number thirty comes from multiplying three by ten: you have faith in the Trinity and the ten commandments of the law,¹ as Matthew 19:17 says: if you want to enter into life, follow the commandments. Thus you have produced a thirty-fold crop. And in order to show that the thirty-fold fruit is necessary for salvation, the Lord wanted to be baptized² in his thirtieth year,³ and there the whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice, the Son in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, as Luke records in 3:21–22.

3.2.2. Others go further and convert to the highest state of perfection through a way of penitence¹ after having committed sins, and thus produce a sixty-fold crop. The number of sixty comes from multiplying six by ten. Six is a perfect number. The six counsels² must be added to the ten commandments, and then you will produce a sixty-fold crop.

3.2.3. But what’s more, some produce an even greater crop: they are not so much converted through a way of penitence, but to the state of perfection through a way of innocence,¹ and they produce a hundred-fold crop. By experience they know that they count to one hundred with the left hand, but with their right hand they already count one hundred.² By the left hand the temporal things are understood, by the right hand the spiritual things (cf. Prov 3:16). Therefore, it is said that the ones that are at the right hand only know spiritual things and nothing about temporal things (cf. Col 3:1–17). They produce a hundred-fold crop. We read in Genesis 26:12 that Isaac sowed in the earth that year and found a hundred-fold.

Likewise it is written in a gloss on Matthew 13:8: thirty refers to marriage; sixty to widows; hundred is someone who is in the right hand already, and the right hand refers to virginity.

And it continues: or the good earth of the martyrs brings forth a hundred-fold crop, either by their abundance of life or their contempt of death;¹ the good earth of the virgins, a sixty-fold crop, because of the peacefulness of their way,² since they do not fight against the habits of the flesh, for after service in the army usually peace is given to sexagenarians; of the ones who are married a thirty-fold crop, because this is the age of the ones who fight. This is a greater combat, for it is fought in order to avoid being overwhelmed by lust.³