Growing with God's Patience
Listening the Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth.
Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit you have taught the hearts of your faithful. In the same Spirit help us to relish what is right and always rejoice in your consolation.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Listening the Word: Matthew 13:24-43
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
Reflection
One of the questions we often ask ourselves is: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?In today's Gospel, Jesus answers this question with the parable of the wheat and the tares. A farmer sows good seed in his field, but during the night an enemy comes and sowstares. When the servants see them, they immediately want to pull them up. But the owner says something surprising: “Let them both grow together until the harvest.”
At first, this may seem strange. Why not pull up the tares right away?Because the roots of the wheat and the tares are so intertwined that pulling up the tares too soon could also destroy the good plants. The farmer is patient because he wants to save the wheat.This is precisely how God treats us.
The first reading tells us that God is all-powerful, but his power is manifested through mercy. We humans might think that power means punishment, revenge, or force. God shows his power in another way: He is patient. He gives us time to change. He always leaves the door open to repentance.This is good news because, if we are honest, we all have wheat and tares in our hearts.
There is goodness in us. We love, forgive, pray, and help others. But there are also tares: pride, anger, jealousy, selfishness, impatience, or indifference. God does not give up on us because of our weaknesses. He continues to nurture the good seed that he himself planted in our hearts.Sometimes we also become impatient with other people. We judge them quickly, label them, or even abandon them. But God sees what we cannot see. He sees the whole story. He sees the heart. He knows that today's tares can become tomorrow's wheat by his grace.
This is also a lesson for us missionaries.Sometimes we want immediate results. We want people to change quickly. We want our work to bear fruit immediately. But the Kingdom of God generally grows slowly.Jesus offers us two more images.The Kingdom is like a mustard seed. It is very small, but it grows into a large tree.The Kingdom is also like yeast. Once mixed into the dough, it is not visible, but little by little it transforms everything from within.This is how God works. Silently. Patiently. Faithfully.
This Sunday's Gospel invites us to be people of hope.Do not be discouraged by the weeds of the world.Do not lose hope because of the weeds in the Church.Do not despair because of the weeds in your own life.God has not yet finished his work.The harvest belongs to him.
Our mission is not to spend our lives searching for weeds, but to become good wheat. Each day we can choose kindness instead of hatred, forgiveness instead of revenge, truth instead of lies, hope instead of discouragement, and love instead of indifference.Little by little, the Kingdom grows.
May we trust in God's patience, allow his Word to grow in our hearts, and become good seed that gives life wherever he sends us. In the final harvest, may we shine, as Jesus says, "like the sun in the Kingdom of the Father."
Reflection Questions
- What are the “wheat” and the “tares” that I recognize in my own heart, and how is God patiently inviting me to nurture the good while allowing his grace to transform my weaknesses?
- Instead of focusing on the “weeds” in the world or in other people, how can I become “good wheat” this week by choosing forgiveness, hope, kindness, and love in my daily life?
