Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
The love transforms the weeds
Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear. Mt 13,36-43
Jesus told to the crowd the parable of the good grain and of the weeds which were growing together in the fields and in society. Then, at the time of the harvest, the grain will be good crop and the weeds will be burned. Jesus gives the explanation of this parable, which the disciples did not understand, in the passage of the today gospel. In a family like ours, made up by people of different ages, cultures and – because of the adoptions – nationalities and life experiences, the secret of living together well is the daily practice of the patience and of the forgiveness. Sometimes – it’s true – there are some components who are more difficult than others, whom we would be tempted to dismiss, but the first parable of today, that one of the good grain and the weeds, tells us that the only way to handle difficult times is the exercise of the patience. It is not with the removal of a person that the weeds are uprooted, they always crop up, because it is the enemy which seeds it all the time. Indeed, as we had already the opportunity to say, we have to be encouraged by this behavior of the enemy, because if he is so determined to sow discord, it means that there is also a good grain. The devil does not sow discord where there is nothing. Although this is not spelt out by the parable, the experience teaches to us that a continual exercise of love, at a certain point, obtains also the miracle of turning the weeds in good grain. It is the Lord who caused it, but he needs our patience and our perseverance.