16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
The parable of the wheat and weeds we heard in today’s gospel reading from the gospel of Saint Matthew 13:24-43 challenges us to pay greater attention to our Catholic faith and its teachings today. It reminds us to strengthen and deepen our faith in God so as to fight the temptations of the devil and his followers who are bent on destroying our relationship with God. Also the Fathers of the Church explaining this parable referred to the wheat in this parable as the gospel of God contained in the teachings and doctrines of the Catholic Church and the weeds as the false doctrines and teachings being sown by the devil into the Church to destroy it. In our world today, it is very difficult to distinguish the teachings and doctrines of the Catholic Church because many of us have twisted them to fit our own rhetorics and ideologies. We have turned the gospel of God into our own gospel and have diluted, misconstrued and even misinterpreted it. Hence, this parable of the wheat and weeds is very relevant to us today.
Due to the difficulties, criticisms, trials and persecutions we face in our world and society today, we have become so scared and lazy in deepening and strengthening our faith in God, that we have allowed ourselves to be distracted and deceived from coming closer to Him. We have indeed allowed the weeds sown among us by the devil to grow and destroy the wheat of God that we are. It is indeed sad and disheartening to see how we have let the false teachings and ideologies of the world destroy our relationship with God. My dear friends, it is time to wake up from our spiritual slumber and laziness, be watchful, be careful and be alert so as not to follow the trends of the times or the world and hinder ourselves from attaining the kingdom of heaven. Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans 8:26-27, our second reading today reminds us that ‘the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; ... (and) the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. So we are not alone, God is with us, but we have to do our part.
My brothers and sisters, the parable of the wheat and weed urges us to deepen our knowledge of God and his teachings by learning more about our faith with adequate research and understanding so as to avoid error and ignorance. This parable also encourages us to practice the virtues of patience, tolerance and forbearance when dealing with the people and things of the world so as to overcome evil with good. Lastly, this parable urges us to persevere in good works and faith by following the footsteps of Christ so as not to allow anything distract or hinder us from achieving our heavenly goal.
