Wisdom 12:13.16-19,
Psalm 86:5-6.9-10.15-16, (Watch it on Youtube)
Romans 8:26-27,
Matthew 13:24-43 Full Readings
The Reality of Evil and Good in the World.
Today's Gospel gives us three other comparisons about the kingdom of God with our natural and local images which are sowing and harvesting, the mustard seed and yeast within a dough. Jesus never uses strange images in His preaching but uses images well known and common to us so that we may understand the Kingdom of God very well for those who have ears to hear.
The image of a sower who sowed his wheat and the enemy came also and sowed weeds makes known to us the reality of evil in the world. Brethren, evil is real and according to the gospel it is being sown every day by the devil which is always seeking to ruin souls and destroy the good seeds in the world.
At baptism, the goods seeds of the word of God were sown in us and the task of weeding them, watering them so that they bear fruit was given to us. However, the devil also approaches us daily with its glittering pleasures to sow the bad seeds so that the weeds may grow in our hearts too. If we allow it, we may lose the kingdom of God.
The choice remains in our hands, to choose evil or choose good, but in these choices we make, we must keep in mind our last reckoning, because Jesus will sit on His throne and give judgement according to the way we lived our lives. Those who accepted the word of God which was planted in them will go to heaven and those who accepted the pleasure of evil one will go to hell where there is grinding of teeth.
Knowing that evil is real will help us make better decisions. Jesus Himself says the weeds will not be uprooted but will be allowed to grow with the wheat. So it is with evil and the devil, it will always be with us and will flourish when we accept it but will lose value when we ignore it and focus on the good. What we have to be aware of is that the devil is always looking for us, who do good deeds and live lives worthy of the Kingdom. The gardener will tell you that the weeds also like the rich loamy soil and will flourish when left to grow, so is the devil, it likes us who try to avoid it so that when we fall to it we will be ashamed in front of everyone.
How do we come out when we have allowed weeds to grow in our hearts? Again it is our choice, if we want to do weeding in our hearts, the solution is to turn to Jesus and repent through the sacrament of reconciliation. This sacrament is what we can call weeding so that we will leave only good seeds to flourish in our hearts. God Himself is patient and allows both the good and evil people to live together as we see in the gospel, even gives all them rain, but His patience doesn't mean His judgement will never come, it will come at the end and if we have not lived lives worth of Him, we will be thrown to hell. His patience therefore is an invitation for us to change our way of living. That's why we need weeding through sacrament of reconciliation.
As St Paul tells us in the second reading, we have also to allow the Spirit to rule our lives so that He will correct our prayers and penance we make and God will hear them. This is an encouraging confirmation by Paul that when we pray, our own miserable prayers are supplemented by the Spirit of Christ praying within us. If we pray to praise the glory of God and give thanks for God’s kindness to us, our own prayer can only be inadequate; but it is supercharged by the Spirit.
Our prayer of repentance likewise, for our repentance can never be adequate. The same with our protestations of loyalty and commitment. This is the same also to our prayer of petition. When we pray desperately for instance, for rain for the garden, the Spirit perhaps deepens this prayer to our real profound desire to be brought nearer to God by whatever he decides is best for us and those for whom we care. ‘The prayers that the Spirit makes for God’s holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God; they go beyond our petty and ephemeral requests, for Christ is praying within us. God gives us what we need not what we want.
Reflect today on the reality of evil and good in the world. Which one have you been choosing and what are you going to choose after this reflection? Pray that the good seed planted in you may bear fruit not only for you but for others too as the mustard seed grows into a tree to shelter birds, and may the fruits increase as the yeast increases the dough. May God always help you to choose and do good while shunning the devil with it's evil ways and actions.
Let us pray
Yours O Lord is just and mercy, good and forgiving, I implore you to remove all the weeds in my heart and cultivate in it the good seeds of your word. Help me not to judge people in sinful behaviours but to pray for them so that they may leave their evil ways and do good. Amen.
Be blessed
May God help me to always weed and prune my heart for His word
ReplyDelete