Word from the Pastor

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God is the Ultimate Judge of Every Human Heart.
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43 or 13:24-30

Dear parish family,​
History is littered with futile and often violent attempts by humanity to create the perfect society. Even those who profess great faith have often ended up using force in their attempts to achieve this goal. Therefore, it is noteworthy to hear Jesus in today’s first parable warn against such zealous behavior.

In response to the great question of how the faithful should respond to the presence of evil Jesus rejects the easy solutions and instead proposes patience and forbearance: let the weeds and wheat grow side by side, until the harvest day, he says.

At first, this might seem surprising good and evil being allowed to co-exist. But Jesus is not promoting evil nor is he giving it equal status with the good. In short, Jesus is reminding us that only God can truly judge the human heart; if we set ourselves up as judge or jury we may risk destroying the good with the bad.

The kingdom Jesus proclaims must bear the imprint of God’s patient desire that all repent and turn to him. This is the key message from Wisdom today: God is both patient and lenient with all of us, for he does not seek to condemn but instead gives us time to repent.

The other two parables in our Gospel serve as reminders that the kingdom is built on this patient love and forbearance and cannot be imposed by force, nor can it be hurried. It must grow slowly and freely, sometimes imperceptibly, like the mustard seed. It needs time and has a rhythm all its own as it transforms human hearts like yeast that turns dough into bread.

Living as citizens of the kingdom of God requires us to have a receptive heart one open to the voice of the Spirit which allows the seed of God’s holy word to grow and ripen within it. God gives us the necessary time to show by our lives that our hope is ultimately in him. Our lives are a time of grace in which to live, love, and hope in God who is patient and kind in all his judgments.

Rev. Fritzner Bellonce
Pastor