16th Sunday In Ordinary Time/Sunday Reflections/ Year A/ 23 July 2023

Welcome to the 16th Sunday in Ordinary time. We reflect on Jesus’ Parable of the Weeds as Matthew 13:24-30 In this parable we read of a problem some farmers faced when they had unfriendly or unjust business dealings. An enemy would sow weeds in their fields. This could cause a great problem, as it could take years to get rid of. Does this affect the reality of today’s life? Let’s see. Now, a weed is a plant with the same sort of stalk and green color as wheat while growing, but when full grown and ripe, it has long ears and produces black and poisonous grain. Of course, if the poisonous grain were allowed to ripen fully, the seeds would fall into the soil and produce another crop of poison the following year – causing a perennial problem. With harvest time not far off, the servants began to notice that as the crop came to the last stage of its growth, some began to look different as the heads began to form and grow longer than the wheat. They quickly told the owner that they must pluck out the weeds before the seeds develop. The problem, though, is that the weeds are rooted into the same ground as the wheat, and probably intertwined with the roots of the whet, and pulling up the weeds would damage the growth of the wheat. The problem was resolved by the master's decision to wait until the harvest, and then the separation of the wheat and the weeds would come. In the Bible, The Parable of the Weeds follows right after the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-23). That parable was about the work of the evil one seeking to hinder a person from coming to fruitfulness in the kingdom of God. The seed sown represented the Word of God planted in the ground of a person's heart and his response to it. The disciples were puzzled , by the parable of the weeds because it sounded similar to the Parable of the Sower, and yest they were related. So why would an enemy want to ruin a perfectly good field by sowing weeds? Probably there is hatred towards the field owner, with the desire to spoil His harvest. Through his poisonous plants, the enemy wants to gain control of the field; in other words, the world, which is represented by the field. . Just as God has His servants to accomplish His purposes, the evil one also seeks to employ individuals for its aims and goals. The most effective way Satan can destroy the plans and intentions of God is to infiltrate, deceive, and ultimately destroy. Our enemy does his best work when undetected , as is said in v. 25, when they were sleeping. Satan’s most effective strategy is to appear as an angel of light where people are deceived into thinking he will do good when he plans to do evil. He presents himself as one that looks like a savior. However, there is one thing he cannot accomplish. He cannot produce good fruit. In the end, his deception will be apparent when the fruit of the weeds is exposed. There is a product or an outcome of his work that will yield a bitter crop. This strategy has always been the enemy's plan -- to permeate, intermingle, infiltrate, and control the world system and humankind. Here lies the thought of intermingling the root structure of the weeds with the wheat. The weeds will grow together with the wheat undetected until things happen on the world scene. These events, some referred to in the prophetic Scriptures, will make it evident to discerning Christians, those manipulating world events and referred to in Scripture as “weeds.” Many do not have the time to stop their daily lives enough to think critically about how the world system is set up today. We blindly accept the spoiling of our time, labor, and energy for the big corporations and those who steal from the poor to enrich those hidden behind the curtain. Look at today’s world events, we are on the threshold of a third world war, countries struggling to save their democratic rights, the poor are losing their human dignity, at the feet of the selfish rich – the weeds have been sown and if we don’t open our eyes, we could be trapped. So stay alert and stay tuned to your conscience and till the next Sunday, wish you a wonderful week ahead. Pauline Sisters are canonically the Daughters of St Paul, a congregation of Pontifical right, founded in 1915. Our mission is to proclaim the Gospel using the means of communication available. We print and publish books, booklets, cards, mini-media in hard format and also in e-format. On Youtube you can subscribe to our channel... here where you are watching and get our videos , also from our other channel https://paulineindia.org/ Pauline Books and Media https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbOj... On Facebook,   / pauline.india   On Twitter   / paulinesindia   Pinterest   / paulinesindia   Instagram   / paulinesist.  .