16th Sunday Ordinary Time July 23, 2023

Readings: Wisdom 12.13,16-19, Romans 8.26-27, Mathew 13.24-43

Jesus teaches something about his spiritual Kingdom. We would like God to “fix” all the sinful situations that surround us in this world, and pluck out all the weeds, but for reasons only God knows, he allows the weeds to grow alongside the wheat. Jesus told us that God the Father “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Each of us also has weeds in the soil of our own hearts. So what can we do about all these weeds? In our own field, we can focus on faithfully receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation to tame the weeds of our soul. For the weeds in our culture, we can pray, especially for people who sin and cause others to sin—those who are blind to their sinful behaviors. And we can console ourselves by remembering that Our Lord says that one day there will be no more evil, sinfulness, or unfairness. “She [the Church] will not be wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love, that destroy or wound the earthly community. The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion” (CCC 1045).

It can be easy to lose our peace when we think about all the sinful behaviors and outright evil happening in our society today. Trusting that God has a plan for all of his creatures can give us the ability to react peacefully to the weeds we see. We can focus on being “children of the kingdom” by doing God’s will and working to spread Christ’s Kingdom here and now. We practice the virtue of prudence when we mind our own business and remain focused on cultivating our own “good soil” (Mark 4:8).