July 23 – Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time : God gives many chances

 

First Reading  Wisdom 12:13,16-19
God has shown himself to be a God of justice and mercy.

 

Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 86:5-6,9-10,15-16
A prayer to God for mercy.

 

Second Reading  Romans 8:26-27
The Spirit intercedes for us with God.

 

Gospel Reading Matthew 13:24-43
(shorter form: Matthew 13:24-30)

 

Central to today’s parable of the wheat and the weeds is the preciousness of the wheat. God is patient, kind, and loving like a grandparent. If you want to know what God is like, picture that farmer in the Gospel. The servants wanted to go and pull up the weeds, and the farmer says, "Well, let's not be too hasty, too quick to judge. Let's give it some time. The landowner refuses to lose any of it in order to get rid of the weeds. “We might pull out some wheat thinking it's a weed." That's God speaking. And it's a picture of God that Jesus himself gives us. And it's the way God treats us, because God loves us very, very much. In its present stage, the world is composed of the good and the bad. The judgment of God alone will eliminate the sinful. Until then there must be patience and the preaching of repentance. We can learn much from God’s patience as we see him allow both the good and the evil to grow together. God wants all to be saved that’s why He keeps the sinner in the world. God gives us many chances and opportunities to repent. What is the weed in me?