Whoops, forgive the tardiness but this is from last Sunday's readings. Which I guess isn't a bad thing to be late because we are supposed to, as Catholics, carry the Sunday message throughout the week. How many remember what your priest's homily was like? Comment below if you can remember! Should be interesting. Today I want to remind you that the gospel last Sunday was Matthew 13:24-43, which if your priest or deacon was like ours at Sacred Heart he read the shorter version.
The first parable Jesus talks about is the parable of weeds among wheat. It is parable that at first glance any farmer or rancher would wonder, "Why wouldn't you just spray the weeds?"
"Squirt, squirt the weeds are dead. Jesus I'll run down to the Jerusalem Co-op and grab some spray and we will settle this weed business in a jiffy" Say's the Apostle Farmer John.
What are weeds? Well Jesus answers that in verse 38, "the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one..." There you go, weeds are evil.
I am a sinner. I struggle with sin and temptation, these are my weeds. Many times I ask the Lord to remove temptation from my life, I want Jesus to pull my weeds. Same goes with suffering and hardship. This drought is hard. We had a whole pasture of sick calves we just doctored and gave booster shots to, that was hard. I've heard about fires destroying peoples ranch, that's really hard. I imagine some of those people are grasping on to Jesus for dear life, others perhaps are mad at him. These weeds suck.
We want Jesus to remove these weeds. But he doesn't pull them out, read verse 29, "No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them." What? C'mon, seriously? We have to live with these "weeds" in our life? I complained.
Then I remembered something I read. It was a book called 33 Days to Merciful Love. It was a retreat on God's Divine Mercy through the Little Way of St. Therese. She was so small and weak she had to rely totally on God to become a great saint. Because we cannot become a great saint under our OWN power.
Remember how I said I fight temptation? (I'm sure you all do too) Well I felt God clue me in like this, let's pretend God removed all temptation to sin. There was no reasons for me to turn my back on God. There was no weeds. My field was nice and clean and the wheat was coming in nicely, I'm such a good farmer I'd say. I suggested to myself, "I bet you then think that it was because of YOUR power you don't have any weeds in that field"..."Because I'M that good of a Christian, a Catholic, I haven't got any temptation, suffering, hardships. Yup, all because of me. See neighbor, if you had faith LIKE ME you wouldn't have weeds." I'd boast. I'd become self righteous. How come?
That's what Jesus warned about, if you pull up the weeds you might pull up the wheat with it. If you pulled up all of your weaknesses, temptations, sufferings, and hardships your wheat may go with it. Your field won't have any weeds, it won't have any wheat either. The temptation and struggles in my life remind me, like St. Therese that I too am but a weak sinner who needs to cling to Jesus in order to become a great Saint.
I beg God for the His strength and power to defeat the temptation, to pull me through hardships, and I unite my suffering with HIS on the cross. Because I know that I am weak, and I need reminded everyday.
So what? Today and the rest of the week ask God for the humility to see how much you need HIM. Sit in silence for 5 minutes or 10 minutes and let him show you HIS work in your life, then you won't worry so much about those weeds.
There are always plenty of seats at Mass on Sundays. There is also NO line for Confession. We are a people who think WE do a good job of weeding our own field. Go to Mass, Go to Confession and let God do what he promises in YOU. You'll see who the real master farmer is. It's HIS grace that we need...and we get it in the Sacraments. "WHOEVER HAS EARS OUGHT TO HEAR" verse 43.
Peace Brothers
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