Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Bel San Luis SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Saturday 16th Week in Ordinary Time
A young woman whose relative was murdered by a drug-crazed young man, who had not been apprehended, confessed that she was having doubts about God because of the so many wicked people getting away with their crimes.
God’s infinite forbearance puzzles us. But it’s a test to our faith when we see the enemies of God boldly flaunting the law and plying their evil trade – drug trafficking, peddling pornographic material, kidnap-for-ransom, rape, unabated graft and corruption – seeing that God doesn’t punish them immediately.
Just why God doesn’t do it is discerned from Jesus’ parable of the wheat and weeds in today’s gospel. “Let them (wheat and weeds) grow together,” the Lord says. “But at harvest time, collect the weeds first and bundle them up to be burned!”
That God delays his final purification encourages us to reform. It is also a stern WARNING to evildoers: one day there is an end to further chances and punishment follows.
“Stop the world; I want to get off” is a bumper sticker in protest against all violence and insanity. Since evil will be with us till the end time, instead of escaping, let us work to make this world a better and safer place to live in. After all, Jesus said we have to build the Kingdom of God here and now so that it becomes the messianic kingdom where there’s love, justice, and peace. Witnesses, whistle-blowers, non-government organizations working for peace, renewal and charismatic communities are positive forces combating present-day crimes and social abuses. “The only way by which evil men prosper in society is for the good to do nothing,” says British statesman Edmund Burke.
Finally, the question: “Am I a wheat or a weed?” If the latter, the Lord wants you to reform.
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