Pastor's Letter 20230723 - 23 July 2023 - God's Forbearing Patience

[Father Michael]

 

July 23^rd, 2023

16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In every field, some weeds will grow.

A Message from Father ^†Michael

Today’s Theme:  “God’s Forbearing Patience”

Reflections on Today’s Scripture

(Wisdom 12:13-19)  Salvation history attests that our wise and patient God is a believer in second chances.

The book of Wisdom was written about the first century B.C., in Greek, in Alexandria, Egypt, the ancient educational and scientific center of the Mediterranean world.  The accent on God’s forbearance and compassion, guiding the destiny of His people, links this Old Testament selection to today’s Gospel parable of the weeds and the wheat.

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(Romans 8;26-27)  God alone understands the combined potential of the resilient human spirit, and the indomitable Holy Spirit.  

^†Paul declares that humankind is caught in the tension of being finite creatures, who, nonetheless, possess infinite desires and eternal potential.  We need the Holy Spirit, Who voices our hopes and prayers, to facilitate our calls upon God, our Father, and enable fulfillment.

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(Matthew 13:24-43)  With God alone rests the power to decide between “weeds” and “wheat.”

All persons, of any station, nationality or background, are allowed the chance to grow and to thrive together, until the time of “harvest”—a popular metaphor, used to illustrate the manifestation of the Messiah.  Given an atmosphere of tolerance and patience in which to develop, aided by the power of God’s Spirit helping the weak, perhaps some of the “weeds” might accept the teachings of Christ.  We live in a time of “second chances,” until the final judgment.  

Saints and Sinners in the Church

There have always been two views of the Church—one, exclusive, the other, inclusive.  The exclusive view holds that the Church is for “good people”—those who are fully committed to its precepts.  In the inclusive view, the Church must be open to everyone—the hot, lukewarm and cold; saints as well as sinners.  

For some, the presence of sinners in the Church is a cause of scandal.  If they had their way, only saints would be permitted.  (The discovery of pedophiles among the clergy in recent decades is an enduring dishonor that has thrown the Church into turmoil.)

The issue of sinners was of great concern in the early Church, as well.  The Pharisees believed they should be ruthlessly rooted out and eliminated.  But Christ didn’t agree.  Like the Kingdom, the Church is a “mixed bag.”  It must not “play God,” with purges and inquisitions, but allow the definitive separation to the Last Judgment.  In the meantime, the Church must be patient, preaching repentance and practicing leniency—an expression not of weakness, but of strength.

Christ did not exclude sinners; rather he welcomed them, declaring that He had come, not only to call the just, but also sinners to repentance.  His parables were a response to this very question.  Today’s “farmer” saw his newly-sown field awash in weeds, and felt despair.  

But Humans are complex beings, who can’t be divided into “good” and “bad,” as though they were two completely different classes.  Sooner or later, “weeds” appear in our “fields,” as well—someone betrays your trust, a partner is unfaithful, or an associate is dishonest in business.  We are shocked and hurt at the appearance of evil in their behavior.  The wickedness of bad people is expected, more or less, but poor behavior by good people takes us by surprise.  For a while, at least, we tend to see everything as “bad”—making us see our lives in a very negative way.  

It might seem obvious to some that the answer is to eliminate all the evil in our lives.  But that proves impossible.*  “Evil,” stemming from human choices, is immediately adjacent to us, and proves difficult to remove from our midst.  Since all human beings have free will, there is no way to assure ourselves that anyone, let alone ourselves, will always choose the “right way.”  Further, there is no “line” that can be drawn to separate it from ourselves, for it would go through every human heart, wherein lives the potential for both good and evil.  

We must, first of all, “calm down,” in order to enable us to see things in a better perspective.  The world is a mixture of “good and bad,” “light and darkness.”  People we consider “good,” may do terrible things—recklessness, jealousy and immorality.  And so-called “bad people” may possess sorrow, repentance, pity and sacrifice.  Even in the small “garden,” of Jesus’ apostles, which He tended carefully throughout His ministry, “weeds” persisted—yet He didn’t “write them off.”  Consider that He didn’t “weed out” Judas, or Peter.  While Judas was allowed to take responsibility for his actions, He saw the weakness in Peter’s life, but permitted his good character to prevail—and it did.  

The best we can do is to take a good look into our own “field.”  If we find some “weeds,” as no doubt, we will, there is nothing stopping us from ridding ourselves of them.  (However, we will discover what a difficult, and even painful process this can be—bad habits tend to persist.)  We must be humble and patient, and continue to work hard to cultivate the “wheat,” coaxing and encouraging it in the hope that it will outgrow the “weeds.” (In Jesus’ day, an especially persistent weed—darnel—was prevalent, but it routinely was “shorter” than wheat, at maturity.  This allowed it more easily to be culled at harvest,)

We should try to act toward “others” as Jesus acted.  It’s curious, that He Who had no trace of “weed” in Himself could be so understanding towards those who failed to “measure up!”  

The Church can do no better than imitate its Founder.  It must be gracious and loving enough to hold sinners in its fold.  If it does not do so, it is not the Church Christ established.  The Church is a temple with a hundred gates, and pilgrims enter from every angle, through every door.  From all kinds of paths, we enter the house of God on a Sunday morning.  Ours is not a Church for those who feel good, but for those who know that they do not.  God is a great deal more tolerant than are we poor humans!  

Because of the presence of evil, we have to struggle.  But it is through struggle that we grow.  Struggle awakens all that is good and precious within us.  Indeed, the presence of evil could be said to be “necessary.”  Unless we are allowed to make a choice between good and evil, no virtue would be possible.

While we distinguish, clearly, between good and evil, we must strive to be as understanding and tolerant as we believe God would be.  Now is not the time for judgment.  The Kingdom of God is still in its growing stage.  Now is the time for conversion.  People can change—we can change.  

May God Richly Bless You!

*  The suggestion to “root out the weeds of society” might seem to make sense—and indeed, it has often been tried—but it’s not a Christian solution, or even a “human” one.  Consider how futile it was to “purge” heretics during the Inquisition; to eradicate Muslims during the Crusades; to eliminate alcohol production and consumption during prohibition; or defeat illicit drugs, criminal activity and terrorists, in our own day….

Abide with Me.docx

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Edited July 23, 2023 by Father Michael