Breaking the Word

16^th Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 23^rd July 2022 — Gospel: Mt 13,24-30

God’s Patience and Goodness

In this parable the land owner is the Lord, who had created the field and saw that it was very good. It’s really immaterial who was responsible for the weeds.  But no one can question the fact that there are many immoral and unethical people scattered among the faithful. The owner isn’t interested in servants pulling up the weeds, for they may destroy the wheat as well. It is apparent that the Lord is not going to remove today’s evil but allows coexisting with the good wheat. Besides who among us is wise and holy to distinguish the just from the unjust? God will decide the difference and bring good out of the evil in his own time. There are also some major differences in this parable. First, the weeds and wheat have different natures. The good and evil people in this world have the same human nature. Since God loves every human person unconditionally, the deviant and deceitful are loved as much as the honest and good. It’s impossible to imagine the landowner loving his enemy’s, i.e., the weeds in the same way. Second, weeds are weeds and no way could they ever convert to becoming wheat. But the people separated from God always have the opportunity of changing over. Knowing their potential for good, God is patient and merciful. He wants the evil as well as the good to be saved. Through this parable, Jesus intended to give the errant souls hope until the harvest time, when the division of the weeds and the wheat will take place.

Mary Magdalene, Friday – 22^nd July 2022 — Gospel: Jn 20,1.11-18

Seek Jesus to Find Yourself

Everyone who loves Jesus leaves behind his or her old sinful ways and becomes a new person in Christ. Mary Magdalene was one such person, who discarded her old self and gained Christ through her desperate search. She had loved Jesus unconditionally and above all else. In Mary Magdalene’s post-resurrection encounter with Jesus, He made her realize her real self-worth as the daughter of God. In the process, Magdalene is converted and she discards her old self and puts on the new self, i.e., Jesus. When Jesus appeared to her personally, her love towards him was so intense that she was filled with great joy. In haste, she went and told all the disciples that she had seen the Lord. What a dramatic experience for Magdalene that brought her not only bountiful blessings, but made her an “apostle for His apostles.”  She constantly sought Jesus her lover and finally found herself as a priceless jewel in announcing the good news of His resurrection.