Wis. 12:13, 16-19; Ps 65:10-14; Rom. 8:18-23; Mt. 13:1-23
The “Master of might…comes to judge with clemency”. God is the Master of might who is all knowing and all powerful. He comes through the Spirit “to the aid of our weakness”. The Spirit within reaches to the heavens to “intercede with inexpressible groanings” uniting our will to the will of God. God’s will is for all to seek forgiveness and receive clemency for our sins to enter the kingdom of heaven. God’s care is for all but not all care to receive it.
The kingdom of heaven lies within the soul having come through Jesus himself in baptism. He is the gift of the kingdom for eternal life. Today Jesus explains the parable of the good seed and the weeds in the context of salvation history. The baptized have become the “good seed the children of the kingdom” and the “weeds are the children of the evil one” sown by the devil and the battle is waged for the souls of humanity.
Our world then is divided into the “haves and the have nots”, those who have God in their life and those who God is seeking because they have not received him, for he desires all to be saved. However, before we become naïve into assuming salvation is ours and we own it as an entitlement while the weeds are lost forever consider that for the Master of might all things are possible “for your might is the source of justice”. The lost can be converted while the righteous can become perverted.
There is also a different way we could interpret the parable of the good seed and weeds. The good seed can also be Jesus and the gifts of the Holy Spirit while the weeds are the sin we carry still with us. The mercy of God allows us as children of the kingdom to exist waiting for us to pull out the weeds of sin we carry by coming to receive him in the sacramental life of the Church. The evil one always seeks to plant more weeds in our soul tempting us to feed the weeds by our indulgence in sin. Sin however cannot remain when we call on the Spirit to grow stronger and deeper in our souls. This is our time to purge ourselves of our sins with the power, love and mercy of God.
There is among some in the Christian world outside of the Catholic faith who believe “once saved always saved”. Salvation comes from God and the day of judgment awaits us all. This is why we hear today in the book of wisdom “you gave your children good ground of hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” Repentance is not a “one and done” act of faith that we put in our back pocket and then go on to live our lives. Repentance is a daily act of seeking forgiveness for the sins we have done and what we have failed to do in our call to serve God.
I recall my mother telling me the story of going to visit her friend when I was but 3. Her friend had a son with lots of toys to play with and so we played together. When we returned home, she noticed I was acting different so she began questioning me. I started to walk backwards to where the bed was and under the pillow I hid a little toy taken from the friend’s house. She made me return it. Some say children don’t sin. Did I know it was wrong? Clearly my behavior said “guilty”. Did I do it intentionally knowing it was wrong? Again “guilty”! Did I have to make amends? My punishment for doing wrong was always going to kneel down and pray by my bed. Do children sin, take candy from the store and hide it in their pocket?
Since we are all children of God what have we stolen from him to whom everything belongs beginning with ourselves? We can be guilty of taking our time, talent and treasure for our own indulgence never offering anything of ourselves for him. We can also fail to love others as he has loved us without giving from his charity, we have received from him. All we have and all we are is to serve his greater purpose.
Sin is a constant condition of humanity in the weaknesses of the flesh, the mind and the will. This is why we must call on the Spirit to come to the aid of our weaknesses that are multiple. As St. Augustine said, “the spirit” speaking of our own spirit “is willing but the flesh is weak”. We are weak to the many sins we must overcome in a lifelong battle till the end. Our hope lies in the mercy of God who in his mighty power makes him “lenient to all”. Hope is for all to come to the Master of might for our salvation.
The Master comes with his power to empower the children of the kingdom. We are empowered through the Spirit with the gifts of the Spirit to be warriors against evil. Therefore, he will “rebuke temerity” if we deny him before others. We deny him when we remain silent in the face of injustice. We deny him when he comes to us in the poor, the sick, and the hungry. We deny him when we fail to pray as we ought and become indifferent in our prayer life. We must look to the gift of the Holy Spirit to intercede for us and overcome our indifference to God’s presence or we dare to one day hear from the Master of might “I do not know you”.
Children of God are not timid in their faith. We may appear as timid by remaining humble but humble people have the strength of spirit to remain faithful, enduring hardship, persevering not by might but by love of God and willing to deny themselves for the greater good. God “rebukes timidity” as a sign of lack of faith. The God of might gives us of his power for every encounter in life to stand firm with him. Timidity reveals a superficial “skin deep” commitment to God and a fool’s religion to the world that sees only weakness to be exploited.
Children of God are called to be battle ready. The battle will come from the enemy, the evil one who looks for our weaknesses and knows how to bring on the attack. Are we ready for the spiritual battle? With every victory over evil, we become like the mustard seed growing bigger and stronger in our faith. Others come like birds seeking to receive cover, nourishment and a blessing from the holiness of a child of God. We want to be that person who shares in the cross of Jesus and is not afraid.
The kingdom of God comes through Jesus the “unleavened bread” who we receive in the Eucharist. He comes to take our mere mortal existence and raise it up like yeast to become part of his body in the divine life. We in turn offer ourselves up to him to be the source of bread to the world not alone but with Jesus who transforms us. In our love we become partakers in the bread of life for eternal salvation.
The Lord is good and forgiving, not once or twice but constantly looking to build up the kingdom of God through his people. The plan of salvation calls for the people of God to be faithful and the Master of might will provide the strength and power in our weakness. We are his people called to come and receive Jesus, body, blood, soul, and divinity; called to take up the cross and go forth to be the difference this world needs.
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