Today in the Churches calendar is Sexagesima. Last week was Septuagesima, and next week is Quinquagesima. The words in Latin mean sixty, seventy and fifty respectively, But obviously we don't have ten day weeks nor were ten day weeks ever used by the Church or anybody else that I know of, so the Sundays of Sexagesima and Septuagesima are only symbolically sixty and seventy days before Easter .While Quinquagesima, next Sunday really is fifty days before Easter. If you think this is all confusing, be thankful that we don't give a name to the twenty second day before Easter. In Latin that would be Duodevigintesima. the names of these three Sundays can be confusing. The Roman Church abandoned the Latin names back in the 1960's and simply calls this time between Epiphany and Lent normal time. Yet the season and the usage of the names Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima date back at least to the sixth century, so we of the Anglican communion have retained them because we as much as possible adhere to the patterns and habits of the undivided church of the first millennium. There is of course, the so called "Common Lectionary and Calendar" that some Anglicans use that follows the Roman practice for no good reason other than that's what Rome does, nor is it Common with anyone outside of the users of the Book of Alternative Services. So the best rule to follow in situations like this is to leave things alone. Change for the sake of change is rarely if ever, a good idea.

           However, the issue of the names of these Sundays of this season of Prelent is secondary to the teachings we are presented with at this time of the year. To review, in Advent the lessons epistle readings and gospel readings all relate to prophecies about the coming of the Messiah, lessons in Epiphany all relate to how Jesus is revealed as that Messiah in various ways. The readings are structured around a pattern that draws our thoughts in a particular way to various aspects of the faith. So too, now, the readings we are assigned point us in certain directions. The Old Testament Lessons of Morning and Evening Prayer show us what we have lost, how this happened, and the beginnings of God=s plan for our salvation, The Epistle and Gospel readings of the Mass ask us to reflect upon the virtues of the Christian life. All of this is in preparation for the forty days of Lent when we are asked to go out into the wilderness with Jesus so we can better understand God's revelation. We have been told about Christ's wondrous birth, his divinity has been revealed to us, and now we are encouraged to not just hear but to respond and Surely that is the point of the parable of the sower?

           The Seed is the "word of God" as Jesus explains, and it is evident that it most often falls upon deaf ears. Some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds ate it, some fell on rocky ground, sprouted and was burned out by the sun, some fell among thorns and was choked out. Only some of the seed fell on good ground and grew and flourished. The message is that the simple hearing of the word of God is not enough to transform the hearts and minds of people. The simple hearing may well be negated by the work of the devil, the power of temptation, or the distractions of the world around us so that the word does not grow or mature in us. Only some of the seed falls on good ground and brings "forth fruit with patience". Which are we? The dry stony or hard packed ground, or the deep good soil in which the word can grow?

           In their wisdom the ancient fathers of the church appointed these readings to present us with just this question at just this time. Surely all of us assume we are the good soil, but this cannot be taken for granted, because each day of our lives we are engaged in a struggle to "bring forth fruit with patience". Some days are obviously better than others, but sometimes we seem to be in long dry spells when we make little progress or even go backwards.

           This is why we are given the forty days of Lent each year to examine our progress, to see how much of the Good News we have absorbed, and to set goals for ourselves. We join Jesus in the fasting and prayer of the desert, preparing ourselves for obedience to the last as he did. And none of us can be too well prepared for what lies ahead.

           So it is with great gladness we read what Saint Paul has to say. He tells us of the beatings, imprisonments and shipwrecks he endured, all the suffering and pain he went through. He writes about all this not to show what a wonderful person he is, but to show how God sustained him and brought him through all this. If God could do this for Paul he can do it for us too. All that we need to do is put our trust in Him, and "not in anything that we do" as the collect says. We should offer ourselves to God so that he may clear out the rocks and thorns in our souls so the seed of his word can flourish within us. As we trust in him to bring us through the dry spells and the temptations, the truth can become a part of our souls.

           Some time ago a film was released called Shadowlands you may remember it. It was about C.S.Lewis, his wife Joy and her death from cancer. Much of Lewis= writing is about the problem of pain and why we must suffer. The film shows how his intellectual position as expressed in his books and lectures was put to the test when his beloved Joy died such a prolonged and painful death. At one point he compared our pain to the pain the block of marble must feel when struck by the sculptor's chisel: it is only through repeated blows of the hammer that the beauty that is the sculpture is revealed and drawn out of the rough block, Lewis says. Thus pain and suffering, he suggests are necessary for our growth and spiritual maturity. He who does not suffer does not grow. This is just what Saint Paul tells us, and the principle behind the forty day fast of Lent. Suffering and pain will come to us because they are part and parcel to this life, the price we pay for our prideful human natures. We can either yield to them and wallow in them, remaining spiritual infants or worse, or work, through prayer and self discipline to increase our faith in God that he will see us through. He will support us and never let us be burdened by more than we can carry. But we mustn=t think that to be Christian is to be comfortable. The way is narrow, sometimes hard, but if we follow Jesus and trust in God it leads to eternal life.

           So let us give praise and honor to God our heavenly Father, asking him to open our hearts so that we may, upon hearing the Word, hold it fast, bringing forth good fruit with patience, and growing in faith each day of our lives. AMEN.