I don't know if you have ever done any gardening? Maybe you've planted some flowers around the house? Maybe you have a small patch of herbs? My mother has a bunch of flower beds and she's always outside doing something with them: watering them, pruning them, pulling out weeds. If you have ever worked in a garden you know that it isn't always easy to tell if something is a flower or a weed. Sometimes the only way you find out is when it flowers.
In the Gospel today, Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is like a field growing weeds among the wheat. I don't know how you feel about that? It's one thing to say the Church is made up of saints and sinners. It's another to admit there are hypocrites, dissenters, people who do evil things and even some evil people in the institutional Church. It's an uncomfortable reality. Some can't handle it. Some use it as an excuse to leave the Church. Some even claim it discredits the existence of God. Jesus is telling us not to be dismayed. If God permits evil it is because he intends an even greater good. If anything, the presence of "weeds" in the Church is a sign of God's mercy.
The presence of weeds is not an excuse to give up. It means we have to work harder. God is the sower but we are his field hands. We have to commit to the garden. It isn't our place to judge others. We can't even judge ourselves. It isn't always easy to tell the weeds from the flowers. We don't want to make the mistake of pulling up good plants. We have to trust that one day it will all be made clear and we will know weed from wheat by their fruits. Until that day, let us be merciful as God is merciful, and let us strive to be faithful and ourselves to bear much fruit.
In the Gospel today, Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is like a field growing weeds among the wheat. I don't know how you feel about that? It's one thing to say the Church is made up of saints and sinners. It's another to admit there are hypocrites, dissenters, people who do evil things and even some evil people in the institutional Church. It's an uncomfortable reality. Some can't handle it. Some use it as an excuse to leave the Church. Some even claim it discredits the existence of God. Jesus is telling us not to be dismayed. If God permits evil it is because he intends an even greater good. If anything, the presence of "weeds" in the Church is a sign of God's mercy.
The presence of weeds is not an excuse to give up. It means we have to work harder. God is the sower but we are his field hands. We have to commit to the garden. It isn't our place to judge others. We can't even judge ourselves. It isn't always easy to tell the weeds from the flowers. We don't want to make the mistake of pulling up good plants. We have to trust that one day it will all be made clear and we will know weed from wheat by their fruits. Until that day, let us be merciful as God is merciful, and let us strive to be faithful and ourselves to bear much fruit.
