February Trinity I
Matthew 13:24-32
The
servants came to the master of the house and said, 'Sir, did you not sow good
seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?"
"An
enemy has done this," he replied.
So the
servants asked him, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?"
"No,"
he said, "if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the
harvesters: First, collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then
gather the wheat into my barn."
He put
before them another parable: "The kingdom of the heavens is like a mustard
seed that a man planted in his field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds,
yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree so that the
birds of the air come and perch in its branches."
February 20, 2022
Matthew 13: 24-32
In today's reading, Christ suggests that it would not be
wise to pull weeds out by the roots in the middle of the growing season.
Instead, He looks ahead to the harvesting, when it will be easier to sort the food
and future seed from the weeds.Wheat and Weeds
This reading, of course, was not intended as agricultural
advice. It is a parable, a metaphor, which we can apply to ourselves and our
lives. What is it that we are growing in our interior lives? What 'crops' are
we cultivating in our souls?
The adversary forces attempt to choke our soul life. Humanity's
enemy has sown the weed seeds of negative thoughts and judgments; feelings of fear,
hatred, and anger; impulses toward unhealthy or destructive actions. They are just
as deeply rooted in the way our souls are constituted, as are the positives. Premature
attempts to remove the negatives may end up harming or destroying the positives
as well.
For example, rooting out all negative judgments may end up
weakening our capacity for healthy discernment. Eradicating all negative
emotions may lead to opening ourselves (and others) to abuse. Christ seems to
be saying that there is a time to let these weeds stand until we can 'harvest'
and sort them. In the middle of things, it is enough to note that the
soul-weeds are there and not let them destroy the crop of nourishing thoughts
and feelings.
At the very latest, we will experience a harvesting at the
end of our lives. Yet even now, we can stand in Christ's presence and, together
with Him, sort our thoughts, feelings, and actions into those that have a
future and those that do not. We can look back and glean our soul content at
the end of each day. When one life phase is finished and a new one begins, we
can sort through our soul contents, deciding what to keep and what to toss into
the purifying fire. We can perhaps hear Christ's strong I AM in a poem
attributed to St. Brigid:
I am the fire on the hearth
that bakes the bread
I am the fire on the altar
that consumes the offering,
I am the fire in the forge
that anneals the soul.
Give me your hatred, and I
will refine it into compassion;
Give me your vengeance and I
will forge it into forgiveness;
Give me your pride and let
it feel the sacrifice.
I am the fire of life!
I am the fire of death!
I am the fire of love.*
*St. Brigid of Ireland
