Contact Us Free Sample

Search

New user tutorial

Log In

New subscriber?

Create your password

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe

OR

Log In

Email

Password

I forgot my password

Sorry... user email or password wrong, please try again!

We’re sorry, but that email address is not in our system. If you are certain that you have entered the address you used to register for your PTW account, please contact us to confirm that we have entered it correctly in our system.

User Account Expired

Uh-oh. According to our records your subscription to Prepare the Word is no longer active. Did you forget to renew? If so, please click the RENEW button below. If not and you believe there is an error with your account, please contact us here.

My Account

Renew My Susbcription

| Sign Up

Home
About
HOMILY PREP
LIBRARY
Take Five for Faith
How to
My Account

Home
About
HOMILY PREP
LIBRARY
Take Five for Faith
How to
My Account

Search

Search word or phrase

Search word or phrase

Any word Exact phrase

Limit results to the following...

Sundays

Exploring The Word

Homilies

Homily Stories

Take Five Daily and Weekly

Preaching the News

Pastoral trends

Quotes

Tags

Question Catholics Ask

Results

Exploring the word

17 Jul 2011 - Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

THE WHEAT AND the weeds grow up together: That is a succinct description of human history. Certainly it was true in Jesus’ own biography. He chose 12 apostles to be his intimate associates, and was not one of them a sometimes negative presence? It may be unfair to single out one betrayer, however, when others would also desert, deny, grow skeptical, jostle for power, and make inquiries that prove there really is such a thing as a dumb question. The same gospel teaching is available to all disciples. How few receive it, and how rarely even they apply it. Salvation history is acres and acres of weeds competing with the wheat for space, resources, and attention. Every Abel faces his Cain, and every David faces his own reflection in the mirror. Good and evil are rarely distinct characters in the story. Growing up in such close proximity, the wheat and the weeds frequently seem to be offshoots of the same stalk. Our task is not to separate out the bad elements in our society from the good ones but to acknowledge that all are tainted. We’re each capable of monstrous choices—which also means we’re equally capable of heroic ones. In the same way, the weedy parts of our past can still produce wonderful fruit. If we’ve suffered, it may make us more compassionate, gentle, sympathetic. If we’ve sinned, we can more easily forgive, offer guidance, encourage repentance in others. While we’re fixated on weeding out the dark elements in the societal field, our gaze is too often turned outward, externalizing what’s bad. The blame game implicitly exonerates us. Even if we find fault with ourselves, the blaming principle seeks to assign responsibility further: “He made me angry.” “They raised me to be a loser.” Don’t most of our confessions begin or end with extenuating circumstances that render us technically pre-absolved? If we surrender the impulse to blame and let God be “the source of justice” as Wisdom teaches, we find that God’s justice is much kinder than our variety. That may be what we’re most fearful of: that God won’t punish our foes enough to satisfy us. How many movie villains, intent on taking down the hero, wind up hurtling into the evil trap they themselves had set? When we insist on divine vengeance, we’re like those evil geniuses, teetering on the edge of our own hell. Jesus tells us it’s not for the servant to tell the householder how to tend his weedy field. When we allow God to be God, we’re also freed to be simply ourselves. Deprived of divine responsibilities, we no longer have to decide who’s righteous. We can also enjoy the benefits of God’s remarkable clemency. Related scripture links Imminence of the kingdom: Mark 1:15; Matt. 3:2, 4:17, 5:3-11, 6:10; Luke 4:18-21, 17:20-21 Belief more powerful than appearances: Mark 10:51-52, 11:22-24; Matt. 17:19-20; Luke 11:9-13; John 14:12-14; 2 Cor. 5:7 Patience as a kingdom virtue: Luke 21:19; Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 8:25 Judgment is God's: Isa. 28:6, 30:18; Matt. 5:21-41, 7:1-2, 10:12-15, 42, 12:36-37; Luke 3:17; Rom. 2:1-8 Catechism links Justice: CCC 376; 1805; 1807 Heaven: CCC 325-326; 1023-1029 Kindness: CCC 736; 827; 1832 Mercy: CCC 1829; 2447

Authors Alice Camille

responsibility Wisdom Justice judgment clemency

Restricted

Word of the Week

17 November 2024

Presider’s Chair

\'pri-sīd-ərs 'cher\

Also known as the presidential chair, the seat in a parish church from which the celebrant leads the assembly during Mass. Its meaning derives from the chair, or cathedra in Latin, from which the diocesan bishop presides (from Latin meaning “to protect” or literally “to sit before”). The chair is a liturgical symbol of authority and pastoral leadership.

Pronunciation Read more

© 2024 - TrueQuest Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

Website by ideaPort, LLC

Wait

Success

Error

We have detected that cookies are turned off in your browser settings. To ensure you have the best experience, we recommend that you change your settings to permit cookies for this website.

Get Help