Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There Must Be Time to Heal - Patience with the Weeds
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Greeting
The patience of God our Father,
the love of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the strength of the Holy Spirit
be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
1. There Must Be Time to Heal
We all wish to see a world without evil, a Church without faults. To see that the real Church and the real world are not sinless and not perfect makes us impatient. Jesus reminds us today: be patient, for God is patient with the Church, with the world, and with us. Let’s not forget this. He gives us the time to change. Let us ask Jesus in this Eucharist that we may begin the change of the world and of the Church with the change of ourselves.
2. Patience with the Weeds
You feel happily surprised when, after a mistake or an offence on your part, the person you have hurt is patient with you and gives you new chances. That is God’s way with us. He keeps believing in us. That is also the way God wants us to treat one another. Like him, we should be fully aware that people are neither entirely good nor completely bad, and that, therefore, we should be patient, forgiving, trusting, and give time to heal. Let us thank our Lord for his patience and ask him to make us a bit like himself.
Penitential Act
We now ask the Lord to forgive us
that we have not used the chances he gave us
to be and to do better.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, give us the courage
to change what can be changed.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, give us the patience
to accept what cannot yet be changed.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, give us the wisdom
of your own kind patience.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us the evil we have done.
Make us patient with ourselves and others
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray to our loving God
who is patient and full of compassion
(pause)
Merciful and patient God,
You let your sun rise on both bad and good
and let the rain fall on the just and the wicked alike.
Thank you for your patience and your confidence.
Change our hearts,
Give us the time to grow and mature
as disciples of Jesus, your Son,
and dispose us to accept everyone
with your own untiring love and trust.
Make this the way your kingdom grows among us.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading
God is Patient: God’s power does not crush or oppress, not even the sinner. He shows his strength by his patience and mercy. As he gives us time to change and be converted, we must be tolerant with one another.
For there is no other god besides you, one who cares for everyone; no one can ask you to justify your judgments.
Your strength is the source of your justice, and because you are the Lord of all, you can be merciful to everyone.
To those doubting your sovereign power, you show your strength and confound the arrogant who ignore it.
But you, the Lord of strength, judge with wisdom and govern us with great patience because you can do anything at the moment you decide.
In this way, you’ve taught your people that a righteous person must love their fellow human beings; you’ve also given them hope by encouraging them to repent from their sins.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (5a) Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O LORD,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
Turn toward me, and have pity on me;
give your strength to your servant.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
Second Reading
The Holy Spirit Helps Us in Our Weakness: Our Christian living is imperfect, but God knows what is in our hearts; he will give us the Holy Spirit to pray in us and give us strength and hope.
Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but that very Spirit intercedes for us without words, as if with groans.
And he, who sees inner secrets, knows the desires of the Spirit, for he asks the holy ones what is pleasing to God.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Leave It to God to Separate the Good from the Bad: The parable of the wheat and the weeds illustrates Godis patience with an imperfect Church and weak people. Not all in the Church are seeking God’s kingdom. But God gives us the opportunity to be converted and to grow.
Parable of the Weeds
Jesus told them another parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left.
When the plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also grew.
Then the owner’s servants came and asked him, ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’
He responded to them, ‘This is the work of an enemy.’ They asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’
He told them, ‘No, when you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with it.
Let them grow together until harvest; and, at harvest time, I will say to the workers: Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles, and burn them; then gather the wheat into my barn.”
Parable of the Mustard Seed
Jesus shared another parable with them:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it is fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches.”
Parable of the Yeast
He told them another parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole batch of dough began to rise.”
Jesus taught these things to the crowds through parables; he didn’t speak to them without using a parable.
This fulfilled what the Prophet said:
I will speak in parables,
and I will reveal things kept secret
since the beginning of the world.
Explanation of the Parable of the Weeds
Then he sent the crowds away and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
Jesus answered them, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
The field represents the world; the good seed is the people of the kingdom; the weeds are those who follow the evil one.
The enemy who sows the weeds is the devil; the harvest is at the end of time, and the workers are the angels.
Just as weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of time.
The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his kingdom all that is scandalous and everyone who does evil.
And these will be thrown into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears, then hear.
Prayers of the Faithful
We do not know how to pray properly. Let the Holy Spirit express our plea for the good of the Church and of everyone. Let us say: R/Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to be patient properly. That the Holy Spirit keep us from judging harshly people who have done wrong, even those who have hurt us, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to forgive properly. That the Holy Spirit may give us the strength to take the first step in seeking reconciliation, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to hope properly. May the Holy Spirit fill us with confidence in the future of the Church and of our country, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to bring justice properly. Let the Holy Spirit make us aware of the rights of people and dispose us to give all their due and more, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to love properly. That the Holy Spirit give to our communities a sense of unity, acceptance and belonging, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
Father, let your Holy Spirit prepare us in joy for the day when you will harvest the seeds you have sown among us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God, merciful Father,
Your Son Jesus Christ invites you to his table
the weak with the strong,
the proud with the humble.
By encountering him,
May the weak become stronger
and the good better,
and may all of us become
mild, forgiving and tolerant with each other,
As you have been patient with us
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Through Jesus and with him, we offer this Eucharist to our patient and loving Father, and we thank him for his mercy.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
We do not know how to pray as we should,
but the Holy Spirit helps us
to pray well to our Father in heaven
in the words of Jesus himself. R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil,
most of all from sin, the greatest of all evils.
Keep us free from judging and condemning,
for who are we to pass judgment on others
since we ourselves have to ask you
to be patient and lenient with us.
Help us to accept and appreciate each other
and to prepare together in joy and hope
the full coming among us
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus the Lord,
who sows in our hearts
the good seed of his message.
Happy are we to listen to him
and to receive him as our bread of life.
R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
you reveal your strength
by being lenient with the weak.
We have received your Son Jesus Christ
in this Eucharistic celebration.
Fill us with the power of his Spirit,
that we may encourage rather than condemn,
be constructive rather than hostile,
accept one another rather than reject,
work together rather than criticise.
In this way, may we become more
your people among whom Jesus lives,
our Lord forever and ever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
For people who easily classify others
more according their bad traits than their qualities,
it is good that we have been here with the Lord.
He is patient with us, forgiving
sees the good in us
and gives us the time to heal.
From him, we learn to be patient with others.
So let us practice patience,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace and be patient
with one another. R/ Thanks be to God.
REFLECTIONS
Matthew 13: 24-43
Jesus describes the Kingdom of God through three parables in today’s Gospel reading. We will focus today on the first story: that of the good wheat and the weeds, which illustrates the problem of evil in the world and highlights God’s patience. A field is the setting for the narrative. The Master of the field represents God, and he sows good seed, while the enemy represents Satan, and he scatters weeds.
Matthew addressed his letter to Jewish converts who became Christians. The Gospel was composed fifty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The world around them displayed signs of evil, growing and flourishing as they observed it. How come Jesus’ Kingdom has not been fully and immediately successful?
It is necessary to explain why evil exists. The evangelist explains it with a parable of Jesus. Only good seed is sown by the Master of the field. The evangelist specifies that the seed is of good quality. Every action of the Master is “good”! In Genesis 1, the refrain is repeated ten times: “And God saw that it was good.” Everything that God has done has been good.
Secondly, we have the enemy. He represents the logic of this world, an anti-evangelical mentality. At night, when everyone is sleeping, he sows the kind of weed that looks like grains. It is impossible to eradicate it without destroying the wheat because its roots are intertwined with those of the wheat.
Mathew wants to tell his community that when our vigilance drops and when we lose focus into dissipation, the devil finds a way into the field of our hearts to infest them with the logic of the world. It takes only an oversight for one to adapt to the world’s morality. Often, we do not even differentiate between the values of Kingdom and those of the world, because they look very much alike. By the time one realises the presence of the weed, it must have already become an inseparable part of one’s life.
The servants approach the Master, suggesting they should weed out the ground, but the Master knows that is suicidal. He keeps his calm and tells the servants not to panic. The Gospel is a gentle reminder that God is still in control.
When the harvest time comes, “all scandals and agents of iniquity” will be gathered and thrown into the fiery furnace. It’s not a threat of punishment but a good announcement of the fire of God - the fire of God refers to the Holy Spirit - and His Fire will purify us.