May the peace and grace of Christ be with you!
Last weekend we heard the Parable of the Sower. This weekend we get a set of three parables: the Weeds and the Wheat, the Mustard Seed and the Yeast for Leaven. As you know, these are popular titles used for the purpose of easy reference but the stories themselves are multifaceted.
Of the three parables we have had, the one that strikes me most is the story of the Wheat and the Weeds. I guess it’s because when I visualize it, I see the wheatfields of Western Kansas and my friend Melvin’s farm along Prairie Dog Creek with the terraced hills covered with wheat. I walked those fields with Melvin and my dog, Dirty Girty, hunting pheasants. Pheasants like to live in the weeds but their lives depend on the wheat as their food.
Part of the reason I am struck by the Weeds and the Wheat is because we often think of good and bad as polar opposites that are mutually exclusive—and that’s reasonably true. After all, even the workers in the story want to go out and remove the weeds from the wheat but Jesus stops them. Why? Take a closer look at our surroundings like the world we live in, our country, our state, the political parties, our town, our own family, and finally ourselves, if we are intellectually honest, we must admit that almost everything has a mix of some good and bad to varying degrees and we have to learn to do our best in the midst of it all. Building God’s kingdom requires time and patience. Change takes time. It has a rhythm all its own and God is at work with each and every human heart coaxing a secret transformation, like the yeast in the flour or the growth of the tiny mustard seed. God is patient and lenient with all of us. God doesn’t impose with force or use violence. St. Peter aptly reminds us that God’s patience is directed toward the salvation of each soul. Some of us struggle with more weeds in our lives than others but we all want to bear good fruit. We need to give and receive forgiveness; we need mercy to experience God’s saving love. It is here in the Church and the sacraments that God’s word, God’s holy seed, can grow, ripen, blossom and change us for the better. It happens a little at a time. Isn’t it wonderful to know that God is patiently helping us grow each day?
God bless you all! +++ Fr. Peter