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Matthew 13: 36-43.
Jesus dismissed the crowds and 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 seed is the word, 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 it will 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 to hear ought to hear."
The Gospel of the Lord.
The Lord's explanation of that parable is not of human origin. It is of divine origin. For only the Lord could speak so intimately (with authority) of the Son of Man, the children of the Kingdom, the end of the age, the enemy is the Devil, the angels of the Son of Man (his angels), and at the end of the age the angels choosing those from the Kingdom who had caused others to sin and who were evildoers to be bound and cast into the fiery furnace while the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of the Father. When one reads the parable being interpreted by Jesus, the parable makes clear that the evildoers are not plucked out at the beginnings of their lives but, instead, are left to live alongside the righteous until the end of the age. Since they are allowed to persist, they are retain the opportunity to repent until the end of the age.
Matthew 13:24-30
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds: "The Kingdom of heaven my be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have all the weeds come from? He answered, 'An enemy has dome this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning, but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
The Gospel of the Lord.
The weed in the parable was darnel, a plant that has a resemblance to wheat. Evil takes care to look like good. If everything evil looked evil, our life would have wonderful clarity, but alas! it isn't so.
Our world today pays incredibly detailed attention to image: it’s the age of the image, almost to the point of discarding substance.
The parable summons us to careful discernment. It is while we are asleep spiritually that the devil sows tares among the wheat, said an ancient writer.
However, we can be too clear at times – clearer than truth and love. We can imagine that the distinction between wheat and tares is settled, and of course we think of ourselves as the wheat. So all Catholics are going to hell; or all non-Catholics, depending on which group you belong to. St Augustine wrote his wise words on this subject: “Let the one who is wheat persevere until the harvest; let those who are weeds be changed into wheat. There is this difference between people and real grain or weeds: what was grain in the field is grain and what were weeds are weeds. But in the Lord’s field, which is the Church, at times what was grain turns into weeds, and at times what were weeds turn into grain; and no one knows what they will be tomorrow.”
Posted by Daniel Murphy at 4:29 PM
Matthew 13:1-9:
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Matthew 13:18-23
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus as the Word is the source of all in the Universe and the source of life.
And some of what Jesus sows does not bear fruit but what does bear fruit may multiply 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold.
This is the optional memorial of Saint Shazrbel Mkhluf, a monk and priest of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Annayu, Lebanon who spent many hours praying before the Blessed Sacrament. He later lives as a hermit of his order. He celebrated Mass close to noon so as to devote the morning to preparation and the afternoon to thanksgiving.
In 1972, I had a case in Beirut, Lebanon, a beautiful city by the Mediterranean Sea. You could ski down the mountain to the beach to swim. It was the spy center of the Mediterranean. It is now ravaged by war.
Matthew 12:46-50.
While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you." But he said in reply to the one who told him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother."
Saint Bridget of Sweden.
Born 1303 in Sweden, died at Rome in 1373.
Married and had eight children, devoted mother, after husband's death, devoted herself to the ascetic life as a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis, then started a religious order, made penitential pilgrimage to Rome, was a model of great virtue to all, wrote many works about her mystical experiences.
A parable of Jesus is a container made of words. We pour into it what we know from our life experiences and we pour our of it what we need. So here, we have our own experience of our mother and our brothers and our sisters and of those times when they have disturbed us at our work and our reactions to that. But this is Jesus and the mother of Jesus and the reaction of Jesus to His mother, and we know that the mother of Jesus is the perfect vessel of the will of God, for when God through the archangel Gabriel asked for her obedience she said "Yes". And we know that Jesus loved His mother and that His mother's life was to do the will of God. We saw that at the wedding feast of Cana, when she asked the help of Jesus, and Jesus said, "Woman, my time has not yet come" and Mary said to the servants, "Do whatever he asks." And Jesus asked the servant to fill the water vessels and then performed the miracle of water into wine. And so here, Jesus answers the messenger by elevating the disciples of Jesus, us, to the status of brother of Jesus, sister of Jesus, and even mother of Jesus.
Homily, July 14, 2009
Mt. 11:20-24
Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For, if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you ,it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment thean for you. As for you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven?! You will go down to the netherworld.
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."
The Gospel of the Lord.
If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
Today July 16th is the optional Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. May there thrive a contemplation of her, the Blessed Virgin and Mother, who from the beginning knew how to open herself to obeying God's Word and to obeying his will. The most genuine devotion to the Blessed Mother is expressed by the humble sign of the scapular.
In 1254, St. Simon Stock was elected Superior-General of the Carmelite Order in London. As a young man he took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where he joined the hermits on Mount Carmel. He then returned to Europe and founded Carmelite communities in University towns such as Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, and Bologna. St. Simon helped to change the Carmelites from a hermit order to one of mendicant friars.
Like the other mendicant orders, the Franciscans and Dominicans, the Carmelites were under attack as being too radical. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Simon on July 16, 1251. As he gave him a brown scapular she said "Receive, my beloved son, this scapular of thy Order; it is the special sign of my favor, which I have obtained for thee and for thy children of Mount Carmel. He who dies clothed with this habit shall be preserved from eternal fire. It is the badge of salvation, a shield in time of danger, and a pledge of special peace and protection."
A scapular consists of two pieces of cloth, one worn on the chest, and the other on the back, which were connected by straps or strings passing over the shoulders. Over the years the Church has encouraged all Catholics to wear a scapular that is usually worn under one’s clothing. Pope John Paul II revealed that he wore one. There is an investiture ceremony that should be done by a priest.
One of the conditions of Our Lady for the fulfillment of the promises associated the scapular (the Sabbatine privilege) is to observe chastity according to one’s state of life. That will be different for a married person than someone who is single.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is an antidote for the culture of death today. On Mount Carmel Elijah called the people of Israel to abandon the worship of false gods and the associated sexual immorality and human sacrifice associated with it.
In many ways the United States and Europe are like Israel in the times of Elijah. Compared to former times we live in an age of peace and prosperity, but many abandoned the worship of the true God and follow false gods of materialism, pleasure, absolute personal autonomy.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel calls us to stop straddling the issue of who is the real God. We cannot have one foot in the culture of death that tolerates the killing of unborn children by abortion and other attacks on life, chastity and the family and be a true Christian.
Please join me in praying the following to Our Lady of Mount Carmel for an end to the culture of death in the United States and throughout the world:
O most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in this necessity; there are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein that you are my Mother. Our Lady, Queen and beauty of Carmel, pray for me and obtain my requests. Sweet Mother, I place this cause into your hands.
Matthew 10:24-33.
Jesus said to His Apostle; "No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household.
"Therefore, do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever who denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."
The Gospel of the Lord.
Three times in this Gospel, near the beginning, at the middle and near the end, Jesus tells His disciples "do not be afraid". When Pope John Paul II was consecrated Pope, he followed John Paul I who was Pope for only thirty days, Paul VI and John XXIII, and John Paul II's first words on assuming the papacy were "Do not be afraid". John Paul II was shot six years into his papacy and he went on to work with Solidarity to free Poland, to see the Berlin Wall fall, and to serve 26 years in the papacy. Pope John Paul II was not afraid. He lived two decades with a bullet in his abdomen and showed us how to live as witness to Jesus and, eventually, how to die in the arms of Jesus. His final words, in Polish, were "Let me go to the house of the Father."
John Paul the Great. The crowd outside the Vatican as he died called out "Santo subito". Make him a saint now. ANd now Poope Francis has declared Pope John Paul II a saint, together with John XXIII.
Today is the feast of Saint Henry, born in Bavavria, Emperor at the turn of first millenium declared a saint together with his wife St. Cunegunda. Saint Henry and his wife ministered to the poor, missions to the Slavs.
Matthew 10,1-7
Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to drive them out and to cure all kinds of disease and all kinds of illness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon who is known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who was also his betrayer.
These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows: 'Do not make your way to gentile territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town; go instead to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.
Matthew 10, 2-4: The list of the names of the Twelve Apostles. A good number of these names come from the Old Testament. For example, Simon is the name of one of the sons of the Patriarch Jacob (Gn 29, 33). James is the same as Giacomo (Gn 25, 26). Judas is the name of the other son of Jacob (Gn 35, 23). Matthew also had the name of Levi (Mk 2, 14), who was the other son of Jacob (Gn 35, 23). Of the Twelve Apostles seven have a name which comes from the time of the Patriarchs. Two are called Simon; two are called James; two are called Judas, one Levi! Only one has a Greek name: Philip. This reveals the desire of people to start again the history from the beginning! Perhaps it is good to think in the names which are given today to the children when they are born. Because each one of us is called by God by his/her name.
• Matthew 10, 5-7: The sending out or the mission of the twelve apostles toward the lost sheep of Israel. After having given the list of the names of the twelve, Jesus sends them out with the following recommendation: “Do not make your way to gentile territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town, go instead to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as you go, proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand”. In this one phrase there is a three-fold insistence in showing that the preference of the mission is for the House of Israel: (1) Do not go among the gentiles, (2) do not enter into the towns of the Samaritans, (3) rather go to the lost sheep of Israel. Here appears a response to the doubt of the first Christians concerning opening up to pagans. Paul, who strongly affirmed the openness to the gentiles, agrees in saying that the Good News of Jesus should first be announced to the Jews and, then to the gentiles
Matthew 9:32-38
A Demoniac, who could not speak, was brought to Jesus, and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."But the Pharisees said, "He drives out demons by the prince of demons."
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for the harvest."
The Gospel of the Lord.
You say that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. But if I drive out demons by the prince of demons, Beelzebub, then by whom do your children drive out demons. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God had come upon you.
The next line is a summary of the activities of Jesus over the last five chpters. He is a teacher, healer, and a proclaimer of good news [the Gospel] for all the people.
"[S]o ask the master of the harvest, to send out laborers for the harvest." Luke 10:2 Jesus chose seventy of his disciples and sent them out two by two.
The Demoniac was brought to Jesus.
The friends of the Demoniac had not given up hope.
THAT IS WHEN THE MIRCLE HAPPENED.
NO ONE IS BEYOND THE HELP OF JESUS.
Matthew 8:23-27.
As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey!"
The Gospel of the Lord.
1 Cor. 15:12, 51-55. Some did not believe in the resurrection. Paul taught that the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of all His teaching. Without His resurrection, His words had no effect. With the resurrection, Jesus had conquered death. Then, He and we may say: Jesus has conquered death. "Where, O Death, is your victory. Where, O Death, is your sting?" Here, in this Gospel, with a violent storm at sea, the disciples of Jesus were "terrified". Of what were they terrified? Of death. But we believe today in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. By His resurrection, Jesus conquered Death. By His Resurrection, Jesus conquered fear of Death. His disciples caught in the violent storm were "terrified" of Death. The "great calm" of Jesus reassured His disciples on the Sea of Galilee. His great calm reassures us. We may say, with Paul, "Jesus has conquered Death. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?"
