The Weeds and the Wheat

The A/C in the church crashed on Wednesday, meaning that we're streamlining the Mass as much as possible. Luckily, the weather isn't too bad, but it's still Summer, and we do have a bit of humidity this weekend.

The homily below was something that I sorta threw together. I wanted to flush it out more, but due to the circumstances in the church, I'm trying to play it a little more safe.

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Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
20 July 2014

        As Christians, we consider ourselves to be the wheat in the parable we just heard in our Gospel for this weekend. So, let’s take a moment to truly consider what this means for us.

        As the wheat, then, we have been planted to produce a harvest. Yet, the Devil wishes to produce a harvest, as well. He has sown the weeds amongst us, hoping that they will leave us malnourished and dying in the field.

        But as our Gospel reminds us, the wheat and the weeds grow together, side by side. This does not mean that the weeds are as good as or better than the wheat, only that the weeds grow along side of us, trying to usurp the good that we can do.

        My brothers and sisters, we may try our hardest to subdue the weeds in our midst, and it may seem futile at times. Perhaps it shouldn’t be a concern to us about overcoming the weeds, but a simple recognition that the weeds are there. We, therefore, need to focus on being the growing and strengthening of the wheat we are, and the wheat of our family and friends that grow around us.

        In the end, as we heard in the Gospel, the Lord will separate the weeds from the wheat. Our job, as the wheat, is to grow and be strengthened until the harvest, where we will be ground into the bread by which others are fed. Our job, as the wheat, is to discover how and what God will use us for, even growing among the weeds.

        We may not be able to avoid the weeds that grow amongst us in this life, but that also means that we don’t allow the weeds to choke us in life, either. The Devil will always use the complacency in society to try to choke the life out of our faith and to choke the faith out of our life. As the wheat, however, it is our job to not allow this to happen. Rather, as the wheat, we are to look forward to the harvest. Yet, in the meantime, we are to use those means by which God will continue to nurture us in this life – especially the Church, Scriptures and Sacraments.

        Saint Ignatius of Antioch, on the way to his martyrdom, said, “I am the wheat of God. Let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.” Let us take the opportunity this day, then, to grow as the wheat among the weeds, so that when the harvest comes, we may be ground into the pure bread of Christ – that bread which satisfies the longing of the human heart.

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Enjoy the journey . . .