Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s parable highlights a difficult reality of life: we must learn to coexist with pain and evil, the weeds among the good seed. Recognizing this reality is not to say that we should simply sit back with our arms crossed as we see evil happening. Rather, it means that we alone may not single-handedly eradicate all the wrong and the suffering in our lives and in the world.
What can we do then? Jesus tells us that we can strengthen the roots of everything that is good. The roots of the good seed will be deep, complex, and strong for they have learned to grow among the weeds. A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. These positive attributes can in turn be used to aid those that are burdened and overwhelmed by pain, that they might grow and strengthen their own good roots.
We are left with a promise. The weeds will one day be eliminated, and in the master’s barn, only the wheat will remain.