'We are all sinners in the hands of a loving and forgiving God.

 

Sixteenth Sunday in OT  A  2023

 

 

In today’s Gospel parable, Jesus is suggesting that we let the weeds in the garden grow along with the wheat till harvest time.  When the question was asked:  Do you want us to go immediately to pull up the weeds?  The response was given: “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.  Let them grow together until the harvest.”

 As I reflect on today’s Gospel of the parable of the weeds and the wheat, my conviction is we live in a very weedy world.  Isn’t it true, there is much too much violence, hatred, power-grabbing, self-centeredness in the world today?  We have to look no further than ourselves to recognize too much self-centeredness and not enough God-centeredness and other-centeredness.

Jesus tells us this parable to illustrate the patience of God in dealing with weeds.  Wait until the harvest.  The Church of Jesus is not to grow impatient with the weeds.

What weeds are we talking about?  Yes, the weeds of life are all about us.  We are all sinners.  We all have demons.  In terms of this parable, we all have weeds – the weeds of pride, the weeds of materialism, the weeds of anger, the weeds of lust, the weeds of self-centeredness, and the weeds of holding grudges.  Often enough, we are more aware of these weeds in the lives of others than ourselves.

There are significant weeds in the life of the Church – the weeds of sexual abuse, the weeds of power, and the weeds of not living out the Gospel that is preached.

What are we to do in the face of the weeds that are all about us?  The parable suggests that God is patient—much more patient than ourselves.  Matthew’s Gospel could be renamed the Gospel of Punishment postponed.

 harvest.”

 

 

With this parable, Jesus is telling us clearly we are to be an inclusive church.  Since its earliest days, the Church has preferred to tolerate different levels of commitment and holiness.  I wonder if you can observe in your own family life different levels of commitment and holiness.   Even if this is true, are we not called to love and embrace each and every member of our family.

This attitude of acceptance is also in line with the revelation of God “as merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in kindness.”

An inclusive Church that is kind and lenient toward its own members and toward everyone else should be an inspiration to a divided world that has a tendency to judge harshly, to be quick to anger, and to uproot weeds even at the cost of damage to the good plants.  The Church is to stand forth as a sign that we are all brothers and sisters which allows honest dialogue and invigorates it.

A Church that is welcoming and has room for everyone, a Church that can forgive and forget, a Church that does not condemn, criticize or judge has God’s heart beating within the Church.

May we pray for the grace of the patience of God.  This does not mean passivity or helplessness or an attitude of giving up.  Does this mean we are to sit back and pick daisies while the innocent suffer?  It means we are to love ourselves who are sinners and who have weeds that disappoint us.  The truth of our lives is that we are all sinners whom the Lord has turned his gaze upon.

The evangelist Matthew is concerned that no punishment be meted out prematurely.  Beware of the overzealous volunteers, anxious to “weed out” undesirables, supremely sure of their ability to identify such undesirables with unfailing accuracy.  What looks like weeds to us may well be wheat.

What are we to make of the weediness of our Church that doesn’t always reflect the love of Jesus in the lives of people?  Do we look for a Church without weeds so that we can focus more fully on God?  As illustrated in the parable, as disillusioning as this may be, the weeds are going to be present till the harvest at the end of the world.  The Church will always be a Church of sinners.  Again, this doesn’t mean that we are to be passive recipients of evil as in sexual abuse.  We are to stand for the Gospel and hold ourselves and others to a Gospel way of living.  But at the same time, as long as people are people, there is going to be some weediness in our own hearts and in our world.

What are we to do?  What did Jesus do?  Recall the story that Jesus told of the Good Shepherd who left the 99 and went in sheep of the lost sheep that had gone astray.

Recall the story of the woman caught in adultery when Jesus said to her accusers: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

And to the thief that was crucified along with Jesus: “This day you will be with me in paradise.”

I call your attention to the words of St. Paul in the second Scripture reading: “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness: for we do not pray as we ought.”  I have always taken great comfort in this reading from Paul to the Romans.  Even though I’m sure your prayer is always very focused, and you never get distracted, I confess that my mind is capable of wandering in prayer.  I am too capable of getting caught in the busyness of life and not focus on resting in the Lord Jesus.  But I am very comforted that the Holy Spirits brings my distracted and useless prayer to our loving God.  My “very weedy prayer,” so to speak, through the grace of the Holy Spirit deepens my union with Christ Jesus.  Thanks be to God.

To sum up the parable of the weeds and the wheat, at the end of the day, we are all sinners in the hands of a loving and forgiving God.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

Generosity is a divine investment.

 

Thirteenth Sunday in OT  2023 A

 

The message of today’s scriptures is that hospitality and GENEROSITY is A DIVINE INVESTMENT.  The disciples of Jesus never regret generosity -- even then this involves the detachment from the pleasure that we are very attached to.

 

Just as we can become skilled in investing resources so that our future will be secure, please know that our divine investment in our future life with Christ is secured by the generosity and hospitality we show to our brothers and sisters today.

 

In today’s first Scripture reading, the prophet Elisha was the recipient of the hospitality and generosity of the woman of Shunem who fed him and offered him a place to stay in their home.

 

Later Elisha inquired to her was anything he could do for her.  He was told that she had no son, and her husband was getting on in years.  Elisha called her and promised: “This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.”

 

This shunemite woman indeed experienced her generosity as a divine investment and an end to barrenness.

 

Today’s Gospel is the conclusion of the missionary discourse Jesus was giving his disciples before sending them out to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.

 

Jesus is upping the ante in what is being asked of his disciples.  Jesus says: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

 

The great mystery of our faith is the paschal mystery:  the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  It was through his suffering and dying on the cross that was the pathway for Jesus to come to resurrection and his risen life.

 

The great mystery of our faith is that we are called to participate in the paschal mystery of Jesus.  It is through our suffering and ultimately our death that we come to sharing in the risen life of Jesus.

 

In our journey of faith, we need to embrace dying to self and our self-centeredness before we die.  We need to appreciate the virtue of detachment as the path for experiencing the freedom of the children of God.

 

The challenge for us is that detachment is so counter-intuitive to the life we too often live.  Often enough, attachment is our home base. It is so against the logic of human progress. We easily are attracted to the pleasure of all kinds of attachments. 

 

We become attached to our families that love us; we become attached to our home and property that bring us considerable pleasure; we become addicted to receiving recognition and praise from others; we become attached to our favorite cocktail:  we become attached to the particular lifestyle which brings pleasure to our lives.  We never have enough.  We become addicted to wanting more.  These attachments can become our false gods.

 

What would it take for us to die for any or all of these attachments? What would it take to die to all the pleasures of our life?

 

Just this past week, I have presided at four funerals at St Joseph’s Church?  Grieving family members have experienced the unthinkable – the death of a family member that was so much loved?  Their grieving leaves a profound sense of loss and abandonment.    How do we deal with the detachment that is completely unplanned and for which we are so unprepared?

 

In our spiritual journey, all of us through the circumstances are challenged to participate in the paschal mystery of Christ Jesus.  We need to die to our ourselves so that we can live more fully in Christ Jesus.  We need to be able to let go and let God.

This also applies to all the negative experiences in our life that rob us of our self-esteem.  We need to let go of past hurts, judgments we have made about others; let go of the need for revenge. We need to die to all the negativity that haunts us so that we can the freedom of the sons and daughters of God.

 

For all this to happen, we need to make God the first priority of our lives.  The discipleship that Jesus asks of us is not a part-time sense of discipleship.  Jesus calls to trust that He will always be the Lord and Savior of our lives.

 

This means we need to die to our plans for our life and to give ourselves over to God’s plan for our lives.   This means embracing the virtue of detachment from our plans and trusting his God’s plan for our life.  WE need the courage and trust of Mary at the Annunciation when she responded to the angel Gabriel:  I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your Word.

 

Listen again to what seems like very troubling words from Jesus: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

I can remember to this day when I was a seven-year-old second grader at Our Lady of Good Counsel School, my second-grade teacher Sister Concilia asked me: “Who do you love more?  Your mommy or God?  I immediately responded: “My mommy.”  Sister Concilia corrected me and told me I was to love God more.  As a seven year old, I was confused by this correction and when I told my very faith-filled mom what had happened.  The puzzling question still confused me.

 

As we pray over today’s Gospel, Jesus is inviting to come to a deeper understanding of our call to love.  First and foremost, God is love.  To know God is to experience love. Each of us is the recipient of God’s unconditional love.  There is nothing we can do to stop God from loving us.

 

As we deepen our relationship with Jesus, we become more and more aware of God’s love for us and our missionary mandate to share our love with one and all.  As far as we are steeped in the mystery of God’s love for us, yes, this indeed is the first priority of our lives.  When Jesus is the North Star of our lives, then our love for our mother and father and son and daughter deepens and grows within us.

When indeed we experience detachment from our self-centeredness and when we are willing to die to self, we experience the freedom of the sons and daughters of God.  This freedom enables to trust in God’s plan for our life and enables to love more freely one and all.

 

Have a Blessed Day.