God Allows Time For Us To Be Faithful And Fruitful

Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

July 24, 2021

Readings (Click here to read in full)

    First Reading: Ex 24:3-8

    Responsorial Psalm: Ps 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15

    Gospel: Mt 13:24-30

Word count: 259

    Slow (100 wpm): 4.6 minutes

    Average (130 wpm): 3.5 minutes

    Fast (160 wpm): 2.9 minutes

In today’s Gospel, Jesus narrated the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. This parable talks about the presence of good and evil in the world, and God’s attitude toward them. God sows the wheat. All good things have their origin in God. It stands for the children of the kingdom and the believers. They are the saints who endeavor to lead holy lives, following the precepts of the Lord. They are in the world and are expected to bear fruit in due season. Being sown by the Lord and being rooted in the Lord, their fruits will be good and plenty. But they will have their growth disturbed, and sometimes tormented by the presence of the wicked ones.

The Master knows about the presence of the wicked ones, and all the many persecutions suffered by the good ones. The saints of God must rest content that in due time the Master will intervene and uproot the wicked ones. The saints of God will be finally vindicated, and they will be preserved.

On the other hand, the Weeds which are not the works of God; they are works of the evil one. The weeds refer to the wicked ones in the world. They are the offsprings of the devil. They were planted in the world by the devil, and their work is to do mischief. They do not belong to the field, but they have usurped it. They are very deceptive; and they wander in the world in the garb of the good, deceiving people.

But their true color will emerge one day. Being bad, they have no fruits to bear, except thorn and thistles. And their lack of fruits will betray their wickedness. They have been allowed to flourish for a while, but their end is doomed. They will be destroyed.

So again our Gospel for today speaks to us about opportunities to grow, produce and be fruitful. Truly means that God is patient and always waits for us to return to him. He believes in our goodness. Even if we are surrounded with so many weeds, such sins and selfishness, pains and problems, temptation and troubles, we can still overcome these weeds. God gives us chances so that the wheat in us will produce an abundant harvest.

God allows time for us to be faithful and fruitful. God gives us time and space so that we can repent and reconcile with him. At the same time, God assures us that he always with us. At the harvest time, God will reward our perseverance and fidelity to God’s will and commandments.

Let us stay open to God’s grace and presence so that we will end up as wheat, and not as weeds, for God and for others.   Amen. . .

Rev. Joseph Casiao, SSS

Image credit: pixabay.com