17th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Tuesday - Jesus explains the Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat

Today we witness sort of a rarity in the four Gospels. Jesus takes his disciples away from the crowd and offers a point-by-point explanation of an earlier parable—the parable of the Weeds and the Wheat.  

He explains how each of the elements in his parable, the field, the weeds, the wheat, the sower, the harvest are symbols for a deeper reality.  

Why, out of all the parables, does the Lord explain this one? After all, the original parable isn’t that difficult to understand, is it? Perhaps, it’s because this parable in particular is addressing not just the moral life, or Christian attitude toward the poor, like the parable of the good Samaritan. It’s just to instill a sense of urgency toward conversion, like the parable of the pearl of great price. 

The Lord explains parable of the weeds and the wheat for it concerns the very mission of the Gospel: why he came, why he is forming the Church, and the obstacles which the Church will face as we continue his work until his return. “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, 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.”

We should not be discouraged by the amount of evil in the world.  It seems like it is just getting worse and worse out there, and harder and harder to remain faithful.  So many distractions to the life of faith, so many people falling away, acts of true goodness rarer and rarer.  

Today Jesus provides assurance that the faithful children of God’s kingdom will be vindicated, that God has a divine plan, even as weeds of wickedness sprout up in abundance in this presence age, a future age of glory will follow for God’s faithful ones.  We must remain patient in the presence of the wickedness of the world, and faithful to all God asks of us. For there will come a time when the faithful will go to their eternal reward, and the wicked, to perdition.

Christians will have to strive to remain faithful to the Gospel amidst terrible, toxic evil. And evil is going to be so insidious, it will often disguise itself—like a wolf in sheep’s clothing—weeds and wheat, during our earthly life, will often appear indistinguishable.

But that’s the territory. And that’s the mission. To live out the Gospel amidst all that confusion, to cooperate with the Lord who continues to sew the seeds of the Gospel through the lives of his faithful ones. That things are going pretty sour out there, shouldn’t surprise us. Our task is to keep the faith, in its entirety, without compromise, with fervor and grace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the conversion of hearts hardened to the Gospel, for those who have fallen away from the Church, for non-believers and unrepentant sinners, and that Christians may be attentive to our responsibility of sharing the Gospel with all. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the purification of our minds and hearts from the errors of the culture and from the lure of worldly attachments. Let us pray to the Lord.

That leaders of nations may find guidance in the Word of God for proper governance and the pursuit of justice for all. Let us pray to the Lord.

That Christian family homes may be places where the Gospel is studied, understood, observed, and cherished. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those who suffer illness, those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and N. for whom this Mass is offered. Let us pray to the Lord.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain

17th Week in OT 2020 - Tuesday - The Prophet Weeps, but hopes

Jeremiah the prophet, wept deeply, over the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. The Jews living in the south of Israel, as we heard yesterday in that unforgettable scene, had become soiled—like a soiled loincloth. They had allowed the corrupt practices of Babylon to spread among them. Their children, instead of learning to love God with their whole hearts—were worshiping idols and engaging in the corrupt moral practices of Babylon.

So Jeremiah wept. The Lord 600 years or so later, would also weep over Jerusalem for largely rejecting the Gospel message.

Many of us, too, look out at the corruption of the world, the overwhelming number of Catholics who have left the Church. So many weak bishops, so many weak priests. Young people not learning to love God, not being brought to the sacraments by their parents. And we weep.

But Jeremiah did not simply weep, he prayed. He prayed for deliverance from the evils afflicting Judah. He prayed for the salvation of that once holy city. He prayed for a savior. Now some might say that Jeremiah was simply focusing on the negative. I don’t think so. Jeremiah saw the consequences of faithlessness rightly. And he wasn’t just weeping and ringing his hands. The man had been out in the streets preaching, delivering the prophetic message to repent. He was a man of action as well.

In the Gospel, the Lord explains the parable of the weeds and the wheat to his disciples. He explains that yes, there will be tremendous evil in the world. Christians will have to strive to remain faithful to the Gospel amidst terrible, toxic evil. And evil is going to be so insidious, it will often disguise itself—like a wolf in sheep’s clothing—weeds and wheat, during our earthly life, will often appear indistinguishable.

But, before we are tempted to withdraw in isolation from the world, the Lord tells us we must live out in the world, not through isolation from our adversities, but through the unceasing struggle with the weeds that the enemy has planted.

We will grow in holiness and we will find our salvation when we struggle to remain faithful in spite of the sins and weaknesses in our hearts and in spite of the adversity we experience out in the world. And yes, we weep over the sad state of the world, but we must never let our tears keep us from our Gospel mandate.

We don’t know who is a weed and who is wheat, so we preach the Gospel without reservation to all people, we invite all people to conversion, to experience the grace and life the Lord won for us through his own suffering and death, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the conversion of hearts hardened to the Gospel, for those who have fallen away from the Church, for non-believers and unrepentant sinners, and that Christians may be attentive to our responsibility of sharing the Gospel with all. We pray to the Lord.

For the purification of our minds and hearts from the errors of the culture and from the lure of worldly attachments. We pray to the Lord.

That leaders of nations may find guidance in the Word of God for proper governance and the pursuit of justice for all.

That Christian families may be places where the Christian faith is studied, understood, observed, and cherished.

For all those who suffer illness, those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain

16th Sunday in OT 2020 - Weeds & Wheat, Who am I to Judge

When we think of the saints, we often think of people whose holiness was evident from a very young age. St. Bernadette, was a very holy and humble young girl, St. Catherine had visions and conversations with Jesus, Mary and other saints from a very young age. St. Maria Goretti, as a young girl consecrated herself to the Lord, and courageously protected her chastity to the point of death, the polish St. Stanislaws Kostka’s holiness was quite evident when he entered the Jesuit order on his 17th birthday.

Not all the saints exhibited holiness from their youth. St. Francis we know galivanted around town, spending his father’s money on women and drink. St. Augustine had a saying to describe his life before his conversion at the age of 40, he said, “It was foul, and I loved it.” And even after his initial conversion he described his half-hearted commitment to chastity in a little prayer, “Lord give me chastity, just not yet.”

St. Camillus, whom the Church celebrated this week on Friday, was another saint whose conversion came later in life. As a lad, Camillus gave his parents nothing but trouble.  He got into fist-fights with neighborhood boys, he skipped school, he learned his prayers, but refused to say them; he was so quick to unleash his violent temper that his mother was actually afraid of him.

At the age of seventeen, Camillus joined his father as a mercenary soldier, and he quickly picked up a lot of the vices of the military camps—swearing, gambling, drinking, and visiting prostitutes.  He and his father, Giovanni, even teamed up as a con artist team, swindling their fellow soldiers.  The father and son conmen went from camp to camp, cheating at cards, and whatnot, until Camillus’ father fell seriously ill.

To Camillus’ surprise, on his deathbed, his father sent him to fetch a priest. And after Giovanni made a good confession, repenting from all his sins and crimes, he received Holy Communion and died.
This was a turning point in Camillus’ life…sort of. He was deeply touched by his father’s deathbed conversion.  If his father, a life-long gambler and conartist could have faith, then so could Camillus.  One of his uncles was a Franciscan, so Camillus thought he might give religious life a try.  But that didn’t last long; he soon fell into gambling again. And this time his luck really ran out—he lost everything and became homeless.

God’s grace broke into his life when a local business owner gave him a job doing menial construction work.  Here Camillus began to acquire two virtues he had never cultivated before: self-discipline and responsibility.  Through work he realized his dignity.

When his construction job was done he set out for Rome to work at the famous Hospital of San Giacomo.  There, he found great worth in nursing the sick and giving the desperately ill a clean, comfortable place to die. Doing this holy work, he discovered his vocation and was ordained a priest. He spent the last thirty years of his life dedicated to the sick.

What a conversion!  At many points in his life, it seemed unlikely that Camillus would even find God, let alone develop faith, humility, or compassion. Perhaps, there are some of us here, who like Camillus, were on the wrong path at some point in life. But somehow, God broke in. Maybe like Camillus we were given a chance by an employer, or we saw how much suffering we were bringing to our loved ones. If not yourselves, likely everyone here knows someone who seems trapped in an endless cycle of poor decisions.

But, the life of Camillus and our Gospel this weekend reminds us that we must be patient.  Everyone we meet might be one act of kindness away from getting back on the right road toward God. 
Our Lord tells us that weeds and wheat often grow in the same field.  Even expert farmers have a difficult time telling the difference between the two while they are still growing.  It is only at harvest time when the two can be distinguished. So we must be patient with everyone who is struggling. We must never write anyone off as incapable of conversion. St. Camillus’ sins are nowhere near the worst of those whose lives were turned, who turned out not to be weeds after all.

Like the wealthy employer who gave St. Camillus the job which was the turning point in his life, we too are called to be instruments of God’s grace in the lives of others.

A number of years ago, rather early on in his pontificate, there was a media storm around a comment Pope Francis made. The Holy Father was asked about the eternal consequences of a priest who had forsaken his vows and was living in a way contrary to the Gospel. And the Holy Father declared, “Who am I to judge?” In this pronouncement, the Holy Father was articulating a truth that is very clear in scripture and tradition. St. James writes in his epistle:  “There is only one lawgiver and judge.  He is the one able to save and destroy.  So, who are you to judge your neighbor?”

St. James is saying that neither the Pope, nor any Christian, can point to anyone and say, that person is definitely going to Hell because of their sins.  That person is definitely a weed. Such a judgment is reserved to God alone.  Again, the weeds and wheat will be sorted out on judgment day by God, the one and only judge.

But to be clear, Pope Francis is not saying that because only God can judge us we can live however we want. He’s not saying we can ignore God’s commands, throw away the Catechism and disregard Scripture because all roads lead to heaven. He’s not saying we should disregard the Lord’s mandate to preach the Gospel to everyone. No, he is saying nothing of the sort. He’s just saying, he’s not the one who makes the rules and none of us are either.

Our Gospel this weekend is very clear that there are eternal consequences for rejecting God’s law.  There will be a separation at the end of time: weed from wheat, sheep from goats, the saved from the damned, those who accepted God’s grace from those who rejected it.

And so, we must strive to live in conformity to the truth revealed in Christ, and to be very careful about how we treat those who have not accepted the fullness of the Gospel. We must strive for righteousness, call others to righteousness, but to be very patient with those who initially refuse that call. Because it ain’t over till it’s over, for them, or for us. We must persevere to the end, and remain hopeful and work and pray for the conversion of those who have not yet converted. And remain patient with God who works on his own time table.

And speaking of patience, as you may have seen on the internet or on television, the Holy Father has named a new bishop for the Diocese of Cleveland. Thanks be to God! Currently the bishop of Greensburgh Pennsylvania, until he is installed as our bishop in September, Bishop Edward Malesic. If you haven’t had the chance, you can watch the Bishop’s press conference on the diocesan website or on youtube. I also put a link to it on my personal facebook page.

In the press conference, the good bishop humbly acknowledged that most of us have never heard of him before. Likely, when we heard of the appointment a lot of us googled his name and his accomplishments. I know I did. He then said, he also googled the diocese of Cleveland and even some Cleveland priests, which made me kind of nervous, as I’ve been posting my homilies online for the last 7 years. I think they are pretty devoid of heresy, but if you happen to detect any, please let me know so I can…do a little revision before the bishop digs too deep.

Upon hearing of his appointment Wednesday night, I listened to a few of HIS homilies on the Greensburgh’s website and boy am I deeply impressed and excited.  My first impression is that Holy Father Pope Francis has sent us a great gift. Here is a man who will help us to know the grace of Christ, to respond to it, who will help us reach out to souls like Camillus and Augustine, to reach into the lives of those who seem lost, to bring Christ to them and to bring them to Christ.

His Excellency will be installed as our 12th Bishop on the 14th of September, the Feast of the Exlatation of the Holy Cross. It will be good to have someone at the helm again, but I think his spiritual leadership will be a tremendous blessing for us.
May he know the constant support of our prayers, and may we will know the guidance of the holy Spirit, that in whatever vocation to which we have been called, we may bear good fruit, we may judge rightly what is the will of God, that our lives may be holy, and pleasing, and perfect for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

16th Sunday in OT 2017 - The problem of evil in the world and in the Church

One of the oldest philosophical problems believers in God have had to address is what is called the Problem of Evil. The problem can be stated very simply: If God is so good, why is there so much evil and suffering in the world? If an all-good, all-wise, all-loving, all-just, and all-powerful God is running the show, why does hatred, injustice, and wickedness seem to flourish? Why do bad things to happen to good people?

How do we Catholics answer this question? How do we reconcile our belief in a good, loving God with all the evil and hatred in the world? Believers typically address the “Problem of Evil” starting with human free will. In the book of Genesis, we read how God creates the light, the water, the earth, the stars, the animals, and pronounces them “Good”. God is not the origin of evil; he did not create anything or anyone evil. Rather, evil enters into creation through the free choice of Man. Evil, discord, war, selfishness, divorce, these things result of man utilizing his free will to rebel against God’s plan.

God created us to love Him, to reflect His goodness, and to be in harmony with Him and with each other, and we said, “no, we’ll do it our own way.” Disease, war, famine, and death enter into creation because of us.

Okay. God is not the origin of Evil, but if He is all-good and all-powerful, why does he allow evil to continue? Well, for one, what good is free-will if it has no consequences. To eliminate the consequences of choices, is basically the same as eliminating the ability to choose. So, to respect our freedom, God allows our choices to play out.

Scripture is clear that the choice of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit had eternal consequences. But, God in his goodness, immediately after announcing the consequences of sin, announces His plan to redeem us from sin. There, in same chapter of Genesis as we read about the sin of Adam and Eve, God announces the birth of one who would crush the head of evil forever. In the fullness of time, Jesus takes our sins, as if they were his own, and pays our debt with his precious blood. The problem is evil is solved. In Christ, God brings a greater good out of the evil caused by us.
What does the problem of evil have to do with our Gospel today? In the parable of the weeds and wheat, Jesus addresses the problem of evil. Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a field, in which is springing up both weeds and wheat.

The Lord is clear, in the Church, his kingdom on earth, there are both weeds and wheat. There are so many good things going on in the Church, Christians truly surrendering to the grace of the sacraments and becoming the people God made them to be, there is a great amount of wheat. But there also seems to be a great amount of weeds these days. Why does the Lord, the Head of the Church, allow this?

Most of us love the Church very deeply, and sometimes we wonder why there is so much error still around, why are there so many Catholics not going to Church, why don’t the Bishops do something about the liturgical abuses, why doesn’t the Pope do something about the immoralities and heresies amongst the clergy.

Today’s parable addressed the concerns of even those first generations of Christians. Even then, there were Christians who turning away from the Gospel, falling back into sin—Christians who received baptism and Eucharist, but seemed to be filled with vile, immorality, and pride. Paul had to write letters to the Christians in Corinth because some of them continued to engage in perversions like sodomy and incest. He had to write to the Thessalonians because there were rich Christians who refused to celebrate the Eucharist with poor Christians.

Jesus helps us understand that in the earthly Church, in this earthly life there will always be both wheat and weeds. There will be Christians who don’t seem to get it. So, be patient with them. Secondly, it’s not always clear to us how to distinguish between weeds and wheat. Even expert farmers have a difficult time telling the difference between the two while they are still growing.  It is only at harvest time when the two can be distinguished. In the end, the Lord will be the judge, who is wheat and who is a weed.

This week, we celebrated the feast of St. Camillus. For many years, it looked like St. Camillus was a good for nothing weed. At the age of seventeen, Camillus joined a group of mercenary soldiers; soon he was engaging in the vices of the military camp—swearing, drinking, visiting prostitutes.  He and his father, Giovanni, even teamed up as a father and son con artists, swindling their fellow soldiers. It appeared he was on the straight road to hell.

After years of crime, violence and immorality, Camillus’ father fell seriously ill.  To Camillus’ surprise, Giovanni sent his son to fetch a priest. Giovanni made a good confession, repented of his sins and crimes, he received Holy Communion, and died in peace.

This was a turning point in Camillus’ life. His father, a life time gambler, cutthroat, and conman called for a priest in order to die in a state of grace. And this shattered Camillus’ own hardness. Camillus went on to become a priest, and even began a religious order caring for the sick and destitute of Rome.

Sometimes those who appear to be weeds, especially in the foolish years of youth, turn out to be wheat for the Lord. So we must not despair over those who leave the Church or appear distant from God. God is at work in their lives. Just as God can use the witness of Camillus’ father to break the hardness in Camillus’ heart, so too God can use our meager witness, to reach even the hardest hearts, and wake dormant souls out of their complacency

Our job isn’t to be the weed puller, to condemn those who continue to engage in sin. Our attitude towards young, immature or confused Christians should be very gentle.  With the immature we should be patient, knowing that Christian growth occurs in the Lord’s time.

We certainly shouldn’t tolerate false teaching, we shouldn’t invite the enemy into our field to sow seeds of error. We should never encourage people to engage in sin. A few years ago, there was a media storm around a comment Pope Francis made…imagine that.  He dared to utter those dangerous words, “Who am I to judge?”

In his comment, the Holy Father was basically quoting scripture.  “There is only one lawgiver and judge,” writes St. James in his Epistle.  “He is the one able to save and destroy.  So, who are you to judge your neighbor?”

Neither the Pope, nor any Christian, can point to anyone and say, “that person is definitely going to Hell because of their sins.”  Such a judgment is reserved to God alone.  Pope Francis isn’t telling us to throw away the Catechism and ignore the Scriptures because everyone automatically goes to heaven no matter what they do or what they believe. He’s just saying, he’s not the one who makes the rules and none of us are either.

Our Gospel this weekend is very clear that there are eternal consequences for rejecting God’s law.  There will be a separation at the end of time, weed from wheat, sheep from goats, the saved from the damned, those who accepted God’s grace and those who rejected it.

Amidst the evils of the world, we are called to faith, to gentleness, patience, and the willingness to endure suffering for the sake of the kingdom, for the glory of God, and salvation of souls.