Catholic TV Mass Online July 23, 2023: Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Presider: Fr. Matthew Widder Parish: Catholic Community of Waukesha TEXT FROM THE GOSPEL & HOMILY The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, o Lord. Jesus proposed another parable to the crowd saying “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, "No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn." The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ. A priest shared a story with me about a situation in the parish of a disgruntled parishioner. Someone that was a bit upset about the parish and different things. And in the midst of that conversation that was going on, the person shared that they're going to be leaving this particular church and they're go and join the perfect church. They're going to join the perfect church. And the priest jumped in and gave a word of caution and said, if you find the perfect church don't join in. The question and the response was, why? The priest said, because then, the church won't be perfect. Because then the church won't be perfect. It's interesting because sometimes even in our lives we go through our life and we have this ideal of perfection. Perhaps we want the perfect job, but we have that co-worker that just drives us crazy. If that co-worker wasn't there, then the job would be good! We want the perfect body. We want muscles. And we want a body that can move without aches and pains and we can bend like we used to. And boy if we had that, awe that would just be wonderful! That would be wonderful. We want the perfect marriage. And so often in just different ways, we want the perfect of whatever it is. We have this ideal that's up there but then the reality is, we always fall short. We always fall short. We just say, what if I had the perfect situation? In the gospel today it's interesting because Jesus gives us this parable of the weeds and the wheat. The weeds and the wheat that are growing. And that sense of who put these weeds there? And then what does the master say? Let them until harvest because if we uproot the wheats we might tear down the wheat as well. And once we go back to that reality of our quest for the perfect. Our quest for perfection and if you find it, don't join it. Because here is the reality. Many times in our own lives, are the imperfections of life are something within our own heart that the Lord wishes to convert within us. So whenever we find this imperfection that just drives us crazy, perhaps the Lord is trying to change something in our heart. And perhaps the question might be, Lord what is the virtue? What is the virtue that you are calling me to step forth in the midst of this situation? Perhaps it's offering up our pain when our body aches and pains and with Christ. And maybe with that coworker, that person that might be driving us crazy, maybe the Lord is calling us to have courage. To have courage, maybe to step forth and have an honest conversation if that's necessary. Maybe the Lord is teaching us patience. The Lord is lenient to all. The Lord does not look at us and say, “I'm going to get them. I'm just going to knock them out.” That's not the Lord. The Lord is lenient. And so we pray for that grace in our own lives. And we see the imperfections around us perhaps we ask that sense, Lord what are you shaping within me? What do you wish to convert within my mind, within my heart? Entrance: Rain Down Text: Based on Psalm 33. Text and music © 1991, Jaime Cortez. Published by OCP. All rights reserved. Psalm 86: Lord You Are Good and Forgiving © 1991, Jaime Cortez. Published by OCP. All rights reserved. Preparation: Lord, I Need You © 2011, sixsteps Music, Sweater Weather Music, Thankyou Music Ltd, Valley of Songs Music and worshiptogether.com Songs. All rights reserved. Administered at CapitolCMGPublishing.com. Used with permission. Communion: Heart of a Shepherd Copyright © 2005 by GIA Publications, Inc. • All Rights Reserved Sending Forth: Bring Forth The Kingdom Text: Marty Haugen, b.1950 Tune: Marty Haugen, b.1950 © 1986, GIA Publications, Inc. Mass Setting: Mass for Sr. Thea Bowman Words © 2010 ICEL. Published with the approval of the CDW, USCCB. Setting © 2021 GIA. Permission to podcast/stream the music in this liturgy obtained from ONE LICENSE, License No. A-718591.