Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Patience, love and forgiveness
He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew … the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder … said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? … He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest … He proposed another parable to them. “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.'” He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” Mt 13,24-33
In a family community like ours, made up by different people in age, culture, and – because of the adoptions – nationality and life experiences, the only way to stay together is the continuous exercise of the patience and of the forgiveness. Sometimes – it is true – there are some components more difficult than others, which we would tempted to dismiss, but the first parable of today, that of the good wheat and of the weeds, tells us that the only way to manage difficult moments is the exercise of the patience. It is not with the removal of a person that the weeds are uprooted, these always crop up, because the enemy is continously sowing. Indeed, we have to be encouraged by this behavior of the enemy, because if he is so determined to sow discord, it means that there is also a good wheat. The devil does not sow discord where there is nothing. The second parable calls us to a personal growth such as the mustard tree, so to accommodate under our shadow the simple-hearted persons of the community, who are generally the more difficult components. This continuous pursuit of love, at some point, obtains also the miracle to transform the weeds in good wheat. It is the Lord who does it, but he needs our patience and acceptance. Then our family community will grow as the flour mixed to make the bread as in the third parable, raised by the continuous exercize of the patience, of the love and of the forgiveness.