16th Sunday of the Year (A)
Mt 13: 24-43
«Did you not sow good seed in your field? »
Dear brethren:
Once
more, the Liturgy of the Word
presents us a selection of the parables of Jesus, in fact, today´s Gospel (Mt 13: 24-43) contains three parables.
We are used to hear them and to try to understand their message. However, what
does it imply for us that Jesus chooses to teach in parables?
At least two things: Jesus shows us that the daily
routine, the daily language of man and his reality, can speak about God and his
Kingdom. “Using imagery from situations of daily life, the Lord «wants to show
us the real ground of all things… He shows us… the God who acts, who intervenes
in our lives, and want to take us by the hand»”.[1] God
is not far a way of our daily routine and concerns. It is us that some times are
unable to relate to God in our daily life.
On the other hand, this nearness of God to us
means that we have to learn, always again, to perceive God´s serene and
constant presence in our midst, because «the
Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a
field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the
largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and
dwell in its branches». (Mt 13:
31-32). Yes, the Kingdom of Heaven is present in the small things of our life,
and thus, we can pass it by without noticing it.
«A man sowed good seed in his
field »
Therefore
we must always strive to be constantly in the presence of God. We must always
be in touch with the living God who has sow his good seed in the field of our
heart (cf. Mt 13:24).
Yes,
we know that our Heavenly Father has sowed his good seed in our life and in our
heart. We know it by our own experience: we have received the seed of the Christian
faith in Baptism; along our life, and with the help of our families and
communities, we have nourished this Christian faith through the Sacraments;
with time, each one of us has bore fruit and renewed his faith in Jesus sealing
a Covenant of Love with the Blessed
Mother.
So,
we too, looking at our life can say: “God has sowed good seed in the field of
my life and of my heart”. And we should be grateful for this.
However,
it is also true that many times we experience within ourselves the bad seed,
the weed of selfishness and sin that leads to sorrow, inner emptiness and
loneliness.[2]
In those times, within ourselves we ask to the Lord: «Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds
come from?» (Mt 13:27).
«Did you not sow good seed in
your field? »
So,
what to do when we experience these weeds in the field of our heart? The Gospel
prevents us from impatience and hurry. Sometimes we want to be like the
servants of the field and immediately pull up the weed (cf. Mt 13:28). However the Lord says: «No, if you pull up the weeds you may 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 weed and tie them
in bundles fur burning; but gather the wheat into my barn"» (Mt 13: 28-30).
 |
| Wheat field. Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Photo taken by Fr. Beltrán Gómez, ISch. |
Yes, we have to recognize that the weed is there, it
is in our heart and in our life; but this does not mean that we have to abandon
our pursuit of holiness, our pursuit of a fullness of life. If we do so, that
means that we have let ourselves be confused by our sins and discouraged by them.
Let
us not forget that –as Pope Francis says- “with Christ joy is constantly born
anew”[4]. So,
we can always begin anew. Day by day, we have to allow the good seed of
wheat to germinate within us and to grow greater and stronger than the weed. We
do this by being honest with ourselves and through self-education.
Self-education
Self-education
is the means we have to improve ourselves with the help of God´s grace. God has
sowed on us his good seed, but we need to take care of the field of our heart
in order to –at the right time- pull up the weed by letting the wheat grow and
be fruitful.
Part
of our self-education is to learn to handle in a positive way our own
weaknesses and sins. In order to do this Fr. Kentenich invites us to transform
ourselves in a “fourfold miracle”. Through our own weaknesses –and with the
help of the Blessed Mother-, we must become, firstly, a miracle of humility;
secondly, a miracle of trust; thirdly, a miracle of patience; and fourthly, a
miracle of love.[5]
Humility
and love help us to always begin a new in our pursuit of sanctity and fullness of
life. Humility allows us to look to ourselves with serenity and maturity, and
to be aware of the things we need to work on our personality. Humility and
trust in the mercy of God, allows us to be aware of the weed in the field of
our heart.
Love
is the driving force that allows us to get out of our selfishness and solitude,
and to go to the encounter of God and our brothers. Love is the driving force
of our soul that will help us to nourish the good seed in our heart. Love is
like the «yeast that a woman took and
mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened» (Mt 13:33).
That
is why, each day we want to rekindle our love; that is why each day we turn to
Mary, our Mother Thrice Admirable,
and full of confidence and hope we say:
“We want to mirror ourselves in your image
and seal our covenant of love anew.
Make us, your instruments, like you in everything
and through us build Schoenstatt everywhere.”[6] Amen.
[1] BENEDICT XVI, Angelus, Sunday 17 July 2011.
[2] Cf.
POPE FRANCIS, Evangelii Gaudium 1.
[3] Cf. FR. J. KENTENICH, Milwaukee
Tertianship (1963).
[4] POPE FRANCIS, Evangelii Gaudium 1.
[5] FR. J. KENTENICH, Milwaukee
Tertianship (1963).
[6] FR. J. KENTENICH, Heavenwards, introductory prayer for the
Schoenstatt Office.
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