3rd Trinity I, 2022 I Am the Fire

February Trinity I

Matthew 13:24-32

Jesus put before them another parable: "The kingdom of the heavens is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and slipped away. When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

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."

 3^rd Trinity I

February 20, 2022

Matthew 13: 24-32 

Wheat and Weeds

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.

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

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