GOSPEL POWER | JULY 24, 2021 | SATURDAY | Saint Sharbel Makhlūf, Priest 16th Week in Ordinary Time

 Gospel: Mt 13: 24 -30

Jesus put before the crowd another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come

from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

Reflection

The Kingdom of heaven, at this point of history when it is  not yet fully unveiled, is portrayed in the Gospel-parable  as a reality in which good and evil are locked together and  are quite indistinguishable from one another. But the parable also  assures us that God has an appointed time for definitively dealing  with evil and saving the good. The present time is a moment of  waiting and learning to be patient as we trust the wisdom and timing  of God. Greater evil will only result if we take matters into our own  hands, with the illusion of heroically conquering evil. God allows evil  for some mysterious divine purpose. In the darkness of our inability  to grasp that divine purpose, we are called to walk by faith

Prayer

Lord Jesus, your death and resurrection assures us that God’s love can  draw good out of the darkest evil situation. Amen