Dear Sisters and Brothers,
After the parable of the Sower and the Seeds last Sunday, the liturgy today presents to us the parable of the weeds among the wheat, which illustrates the problem of evil in the world and highlights God’s patience. On one side is the master of the field, who represents God and who sows good seed; on the other is the enemy, who represents Satan who scatters weeds.
A way of looking at history can be read in this parable. Alongside God – the master of the field – who only and always sows good seed, there is an adversary, who sows weeds to impede the wheat’s growth. The master acts in the open, in broad daylight, and his goal is a good harvest. Instead, the other, the adversary, takes advantage of the darkness of night and works out of envy and hostility to ruin everything. The adversary has a name – the devil, God’s opponent. The devil’s intention is to hinder the work of salvation, to stonewall the Kingdom of God through wicked workers, Sowers of evil.
In the parable, the servants would like to intervene and uproot the weeds; but the master, who is concerned above all with saving the wheat, is against this, saying: “No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them” With this image, Jesus tells us that in this world good and evil are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate them and eradicate all evil. God alone can do this, and he will do so at the Last Judgment.
One lesson that we all need to learn from the patience of the Master is not to be flustered or discouraged when we find bad seeds or weeds among us. Sadly, we will find those who, for example, are not living consistent with the Gospel — among the Catholics of our family and neighborhood, in the Church or in the Society. Jesus is telling us that there will be some bad seed but that they ultimately can’t stop the growth of the good seed! He tells us that we need simply to keep growing until harvest time, to keep living our faith with zeal, asking the Lord to help us bring about much more good seed.
The next weekend, Fr. Jose Mathew from my own Salesian province of New Delhi will be here for the Summer Mission Appeal. He had done it already once in 2024. I thank you sincerely for all the support you have been extending towards the Salesian ministry and for your cooperation and continued generosity!
United in prayer,
Fr. Joy Jacob, SDB