Called to Be Wheat Among Tares
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Lord, you are good and forgiving.”Ps. 86
“Do not participate in anything that non-followers of Christ do. The good has nothing to do with the bad. Nor can light and darkness be together. Nor can there be friendship between Christ and the devil. He who is a follower of Christ does not call him a brother who is not.”2 Corinthians 6:14ff
It is a warning from God. Beware of receiving tares from the pagan world in which we are, beware of what you hear and accept as valid, for much of what is good for the world without God is abominable to God, as it should be for believers. We cannot accept much of what we see in other people, for they have not opened themselves to God, and they are full of lies, tares and sin, from which Jesus came to deliver us. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel:
“Then the workers went to say to the master, ‘Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did this tares come from?’ The master replied, ‘Surely an enemy of mine did it.'”Matthew 13:24ff
WE ACCEPT AND LOVE THE SINNER, BUT NOT THE SIN.
That’s right, it is not reconcilable, it is not the same to be wheat than tares, light and darkness, they are opposites; as it is not possible for a first grade child to understand grade 8 mathematics; it is the reason for the lack of understanding among many human beings, because of the differences between values and knowledge. Not everyone sees or can see the same thing, not everyone gives importance to the same thing or values the same. That is why we must be open to others, even when we cannot understand them, because we do not see the same thing as them. The others are on another level; We do not know if levels higher or lower than ours, in any case, this may be reason not to understand them.
Men and women naturally see things differently, because we give importance to different things, we like different things, so it is a challenge to live with those of another sex or another culture, because their paradigms and values are different. We can adapt to other mentalities and ways of seeing this world, to be understanding with the different levels of growth in which they are, to different cultures, but not to what is contrary to God and what He reveals to us, because He is the one who gives us the light and the divine identity that we can never renounce.
We can live with everyone, but for this we should accept the fact that it is natural and respectable not to share the same ideas, values and perceptions, because naturally and because of different cultures or levels of learning we can not all see things in the same way. To this we must add the sin that divides us, the clumsiness that makes us accept erroneous prejudices as true, or makes us let ourselves be carried away by anger and other emotions rather than by reason and faith.
But these natural realities that differentiate us and have us in different capacities and levels should never separate us from the light of Christ, each on his own level and seeking to grow in Him. Before Him and the divine life He gives us, everything else will take its place of secondary and temporal, as St. Paul often says:
“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is no Jew or Greek; there is no slave or free; there is no male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”Galatians 3:27ff
For this reason we do not give so much importance to the temporal that naturally divides us, as to the new identity in Christ that makes us light and seeks to illuminate and create communion of all in Christ.
Readings for the Week
Sunday: Wis 12:13, 16-19/Ps 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16 (5a)/Rom 8:26-27/Mt 13:24-43 or 13:24-30
Monday: Ex 14:5-18/Ex 15:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6/Mt 12:38-42
Tuesday: 2 Cor 4:7-15/Ps 126:1bc-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6/Mt 20:20-28
Wednesday: Ex 16:1-5, 9-15/Ps 78:18-19, 23-24, 25-26, 27-28/Mt 13:1-9
Thursday: Ex 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b/Dn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56/Mt 13:10-17
Friday: Ex 20:1-17/Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11/Mt 13:18-23
Saturday: Ex 24:3-8/Ps 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15/J 11:19-27 or Lk 10:38-42
Next Sunday: 1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12/Ps 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130 (97a)/Rom 8:28-30/Mt 13:44-52 or 13:44-46
Observances for the Week
Sunday: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Monday: St. Sharbel Makhlüf, Priest
Tuesday: St. James, Apostle
Wednesday: Sts. Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin
Saturday: Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus
Next Sunday: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time