Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (July 28, 2018): God's Timing

Thứ Sáu, 27-07-2018 | 16:06:56

Today’s Readings:

Jeremiah 7:1-11
Psalm 84:3-6a, 8, 11
Matthew 13:24-30
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072818.cfm

USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/18_07_28.mp3


A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?’
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’
His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”


“The man’s slaves said to him: ‘Do you want us to pull them up?’ ‘No’, he replied, ‘you might pull the wheat along with them.'” (From Saturday’s Gospel reading)

Reflection for Saturday: God’s Timing

By Graciela Ramos, Director of Online Ministry

As I read the Gospel passage for this Saturday, the first word that comes to my mind is “battle.” We are in a constant battle so that the good seed will bear fruit and that it will not be smothered by weeds. But it is not possible to pull the latter up completely, because we run the risk of ripping out the wheat too. What a challenge!

In this beautiful world that God the Father has given us, two realities coexist: good and evil. The good is “sown” by the Father and the evil is “sown” by the enemy during the night, when nobody notices it. And the first thing we want to do when observing our world is to get rid of evil.

It’s good what the workers propose to the owner of the field about the weeds: “Do you want us to go pull them up?” They are worried about the produce; they do not want it to be lost. But their master knows the risks of acting hastily, so he stops them and alerts them: “Beware! You can take away the very harvest.” Therefore, like our Heavenly Father, we must have patience and mercy. Patience and mercy with others and with ourselves.

If we look at our world today and focus on the situations that worry us, on the different issues that take away our peace, that is, on the weeds, we stop looking at the good that is germinating, growing and strengthening. There is a good harvest, because the Lord has sown good seed! The Lord has never failed to sow good seed. God knows his people and has faith in his children. God has hope in his children. He knows what seed he has sown and knows with what blood the earth has been watered!

Let the Life of Christ grow and be strengthened in you. Let’s give time for the Holy Spirit to work in each one of us and let’s dedicate ourselves to collaborate with him in “… good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Let us leave the time of harvest to God; let us leave to God the time of judgment. His timing is perfect.

The Lord needs you, and he needs you a lot! Read this WordByte and see how “God does the extraordinary with ordinary people”.

Inside the Ministry: Waiting on God’s will for a decision?

Often, people who send in prayer requests or seek my wisdom on a decision they’re facing say, “I want to know God’s will before I take any action.” But this is not actually as holy as it sounds. I discovered this myself, because I easily fall into the same trap. That’s why I wrote a note to myself about it and posted it online to share (see image on left).

It’s right, of course, to seek God’s will first and foremost in everything. We should always ask him to guide us into the correct or best (when there’s more than one right way to go) decision. It’s the waiting for certainty about his will that traps us in a paralysis of indecisiveness. Rarely does he provide foolproof certainty. He prefers that we walk by faith, trusting his nearness and his concern for us.

I’d rather receive a definitive Word of Knowledge or vision or audible voice — wouldn’t you? But he is more interested in our willingness to take a step forward and proceed with whatever decision a well-formed conscience would recommend. If our judgment is wrong, he will be there for us. We learn more from mistakes than from easy successes. If we knock on the wrong door of opportunity, he will keep it closed, and if the door opens (note: doors don’t open until after we knock), we had better cross the threshold and learn from whatever we enter into, because God didn’t keep this one closed.

Making important decisions is difficult, because decisions bring responsibility. So we buy more time by waiting for clarity. When we do this, we hide from taking ownership of the decision to act, putting the blame on God (“He has not revealed his will yet”). We off-load responsibility to someone else (God’s the best “someone else”, which makes our procrastination feel good), hoping that he will make the decision for us. And maybe it won’t need to be made at all!

But…

That’s not our calling. Our calling is to do our best using the gifts and talents that God has given us, applying what we’ve learned from the experiences and lessons of life and faith. Doing our best starts with seeking God and asking for his help in making good decisions. But it’s fruitless if we stop there. Doing our best also means taking action while trusting God to stop us if we start proceeding in a wrong direction.

In last Tuesday’s Daily Blessing, St. Augustine said, “On earth, we are wayfarers, always on the go. This means that we have to keep on moving forward. Therefore, be always unhappy about what you are if you want to reach what you are not. If you are pleased with what you are, you have stopped already. If you say: ‘It is enough,’ you are lost. Keep on walking, moving forward, trying for the goal. Don’t try to stop on the way, or to go back, or to deviate from it.”

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© 2018 by Terry A. Modica

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