At the beginning of the Bible we are told that man was given dominion over creation, not to enslave it, not to rule over it like tyrants, tormentors, dictators, but in order to share all his knowledge with creation, to lead it to the fullness to which it is called, that is, again, to that, if I may say so, that it may become the visible garment of God's presence.

This is a topic of modern ecology, a very important topic for us. We must understand that our Christian vocation is, among other things, to immerse ourselves in the Divine element, to be cleansed from all sin, from all impurity, from all darkness that closes our communion with God. And the next step is to use our example, love, and wisdom to draw the entire universe with us into the depths of God.

After these preliminary remarks, we can go directly to the parables of Christ set forth in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. The first is the parable of the sower.

Listen: behold, a sower went out to sow; And while he was sowing it came to pass that something fell by the wayside, and the birds flew in and pecked at it. Some fell on a stony place, where there was little earth, and soon sprang up, because the ground was shallow; but when the sun rose, it withered, and as it had no root, it withered. Some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew, and choked the seed, and it did not bear fruit. And some fell on good ground, and brought forth fruit, which sprang up and grew, and brought forth some thirty, and some sixty, and some a hundred. And he said to them, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!" When He was left without a multitude, those around Him, together with the twelve, asked Him about the parable. And he said to them, "It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are in parables; so that they look with their own eyes, and do not see; they hear with their own ears, and do not understand, lest they be converted, and their sins be forgiven. And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then can you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. Sown by the wayside means those in whom the word is sown, but to whom, when they hear, Satan immediately comes and snatches away the word sown in their hearts. In the same way, what is sown in a stony place signifies those who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, but have no root in themselves and are fickle; then, when tribulation or persecution for the word comes, they are immediately offended. That which is sown in thorns signifies those who hear the word, but in whom the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and other desires, entering into them, choke the word, and it is without fruit. And what is sown in good ground means those who hear the word and receive and bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold (4:3-20).

The first question that the parable I have just read raises in me is this: Are there people who are doomed not to understand because they represent this or that barren land? Can it be that only a few, depicted here as a field of good, fertile land, can understand and therefore find salvation? If so, there would be a deep injustice in God and a great unrighteousness.

We need to understand a very important thing: this parable does not define people in general, dividing them into categories. This parable tells us about the states that occur in us. Each of us changes from day to day. A person is sensitive and can perceive every living word to the depths of his soul, and there this word, like a seed in a field, remains in the very depths and begins to revive, sprout, and in due time will bear rich fruit. At other moments we are insensitive, unable to respond not only to the parable, but even to the grief of the closest and dearest person, when we are petrified by our grief or some inner concern. Then, although the seed falls into us, although we hear a friend tell us something very important about his grief: his child died, his wife abandoned him, something happened to him that seems irreparable to him, we do not hear, because everything falls on the stone that our heart has become. At other times, it happens that we are responsive, but this responsiveness is superficial; We are still superficial people, we do not have the depth that is able to perceive with force what comes to us from the outside. Again, this can refer to another person's grief or joy. A person comes to us with grief, and we can sit with him for a short time – an hour and a half, listen to him affectionately, console him, hug his shoulders with our hands. And when he leaves, we are ready to shake off all his grief and immerse ourselves in our ordinary life, in the flattest things. We have done our job, "comforted" another person, took part in his grief, now his grief remains with him, "and what do I have to do with it? Now I can go to the cinema, read a book, or visit friends, or do something that I need..." This is what this parable points to when it speaks of people who are superficial, in whom there is no root, no depth. Yes, this word has fallen and matured — only for a while.

When it comes to the word of God, alas, the same thing happens. This seed falls on such soil and takes root for a while, because we have accepted it with joy, with interest, with vivacity, but we have no depth. Perhaps grief did not plow our souls; Perhaps earthly, human joys never reached us, we only took a sip, we never drank deeply from the cup of sorrow or joy, and therefore we do not live deeply enough...

And it happens (which is also said in this parable) that we perceive the word, but there are so many cares, so many needs in our life; When should we care about what we hear? Eternity? "It is still ahead, it will "have time", and now we need to get rich, we need to be with friends, you never know what needs to be done. And then it turns out that the cares of this world, as the parable says, drown out the word, we have no time to deal with eternity, we only take time.

Dostoevsky has a wonderful place where he remembers his arrival in Naples. He stands on the deck of a ship and sees indescribable beauty: the blue bottomless sky and nature, the mountains, the city, the sea. He is completely overwhelmed by this beauty, and those around him who arrived at the same time do not look at nature, at the sky. All this will be in time, now they must take care of their luggage, disembark as soon as possible, before the others, in order to have time to find the cabmen... Dostoevsky looks at it and says: Yes, and the sky is deep, bottomless, but the sky will always be there, it will "have time" to look at it, and now we have to land...

Do we not live this way very often, not only in relation to God, but also in relation to people? Too often, when we sense something deep where we could dwell on, we dismiss it, because there is something else, something small, insignificant, that "must" be done now. It may leave us, my luggage may remain on the ship, or I may lose it on the way, and I shall have time to look at the sky. So it is with God. And I will "have time" to reach God.

I want to talk about this in more detail, using another parable.

A certain man made a great supper, and called many, and when the time for supper came, he sent his servant to say to those who were invited, "Go, for all things are ready." And everyone, as if by agreement, began to apologize. The first said to him, "I have bought land, and I must go to see it; Please forgive me. Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them; Please forgive me. A third said, "I am married, and therefore I cannot come." And when the servant returned, he reported this to his master... (Luke 14:16-21).

The parable goes on, but I'll stop here, because that's the only thing I wanted to read to you. Here is a clear picture of what happens to us. We are called into the Kingdom of God, that is, we are called to enter into a relationship with God of such intimacy, such mutual love, that we will become His closest friends. But for this, of course, you need to find time for Him, you just need to find time to communicate with Him, just as it happens with friends. We do not call a friend a person who sometimes, meeting us on the street, says: "Oh, how glad I am to see you!" and then never shows up at our home, whether we have sorrow or joy. It's the same here.

The lord (under the name of the lord it is here referred to God) invited friends to the marriage of his son. And each of them began to refuse. "I bought a piece of land, now I own the land, it's mine..." And he does not understand that he is saying "the wrong thing": because at the moment when he "owned" the land, he became a slave of the land. He cannot tear himself away from her, he cannot leave her in order to share the joy of his closest friend; the earth holds him captive. Not necessarily great wealth, it can be the most insignificant affection. You think about what will happen if you take even a small coin in your hand, which you do not want to part with for anything. You clenched it in your fist - what can you do with this fist now? No problem. And with this hand? Forearm? Shoulder? You can't do anything, or you'll drop that coin. And as a result, because you have taken the most insignificant coin in your hand, it turns out to be a penny, you have enslaved your whole body, all your attention, all your heart to this penny, to this copper. This image should be clear to all of us. Therefore, a person who says: "I am now the owner of the land" is in fact only a slave of this piece of land, the field in which he has taken root, and these roots do not allow him to move anywhere from the field.