It is on 23rd July 2023. We celebrate the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The readings are from Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; the second reading is from Romans 8:26-27; and the Gospel from Matthew 13:24-43.
God takes time to judge but shows mercy swiftly. God’s leniency is not lethargy and laxity.
God’s mercy is the utmost meekness and innumerable patience in returning to God.
The first reading describes the character of God. The characteristic of God manifested in God’s enormous patience out of mercy to see the best emerge in unique life conditions. God expects the just and the holy ones to be kind, the good people to inject hope, and the sinners to repent. (Wis.12:19).
The responsorial Psalm praises, “Lord, you are good and forgiving.” (Ps.88:5).
In the second reading, St. Paul strengthens our belief that our endurance in expectation allows us to experience liberation through the power of the Holy Spirit in God’s time. In our spiritual struggles, we are not alone but the Spirit of God works through this to bring the best outcome in our body and spirit. “God, who searches the heart, knows what the mind of the Spirit is because the Spirit intercedes for the holy ones according to the will of God.” (Rom.8:27). During times of struggles and suffering, it is hard to whisper a voice to God yet the Spirit of God who resides in us removes the residue and reiterate our unstated longings to God. Change is the only response to the surge of our inner longings. At times we are perplexed to ask what we need. Our prayer in the Spirit searches the heart and presents the need unnoticed by reason. Without this personal communion and communication with God, we cannot recognise the struggle between good and evil, body and spirit, patience, progress, desire and disposition.
Jesus reminds us in the Gospel that growth in the Kingdom is mysterious and mostly steadily slow.
The tension, struggle, and stress between good and evil, darnel and wheat, leaven and the flour, mustard seed and the land are all part of growth and maturity. The processes need to be acknowledged and the painful lessons need to be taken with tolerance, patience, and meekness. We cannot discard a sketch before it is completed fully.
Let us not quickly condemn and get rid of anyone or anything without allowing them to evolve, integrate and instil growth. Avoiding all immature conclusions would help us to be open to emerging growth in the end. In no way, do we need to decide the culmination and the course of its end in any way we desire. Good can come out at any time of our growth, why not at the end? May the Lord help us to wait patiently till the end as God waits to see the desired growth in us. May you have a good day. God bless you.