OMELIE / Omelie EN

23 lug 2023

23/07/2023 - 16th Sunday in O. T. - year A

23/07/2023 - 16^th Sunday in O. T. - year A

Reading 1 WIS 12,13.16-19 Psalm 85 Reading 2 ROM 8,26-27 Gospel MT 13,24-43

Today’s Word is focused on God’s patience, the one He uses with us every day. Naturally, by focusing on a patient God, we too will come to be similar to Him. The book of Wisdom notices that God’s patience is not naive: in fact, He does not want to leave us at our pride’s mercy, does not give up judging us, however He does so «with clemency, and with much lenience», giving us, His sinning children, the «permit of repentance»! Let us not forget that Jesus too has given us an example by telling us about the conversion of the younger son of the faithful father.

In today’s Gospel Jesus goes back to this teaching, making it very easy to understand with a parable. It is the one defined as the one of “the weeds”. A man realises that among the weat, sowed in his field with effort and with the desire to harvest its crop, a weed is growing. Who could have sown it? Certainly someone who wishes us evil, an enemy, someone who is envious of our good qualities and wants to hinder our enjoyment.

Someone would like to get rid of the plants of weed right away, as long as they are small. But the owner is really worried about the viable weat, and he would not like that, by uprooting them, some of the good weat might be eradicated too. There is nothing to do but wait. While waiting, what is going to happen?

But why Jesus is telling this story? When we try to understand its spiritual meaning, then we see that the weat represents the Word God plants in our heart, and the weeds the temptations of the evil one. So we can understand Jesus’ intention. Certainly the small plants will not change their nature. But we, men, are granted time in which we can change our obedience: instead of continuing to follow selfishness and arrogance, we can start obeying Jesus, staying with Him, imitating His meekness and humility. God’s patience gives us time, because God does not want us to get lost. He gives us the opportunities to repent and to match His goodness and His patience.

We will be alert, because the devil continues to sow his weeds, to spread his temptations in our good deeds and in our decisions. If we are not alert we will find all our holy intentions tainted with ambition and vanity, with pride and superficiality. We will ask for our brethren’s help, so they too can guard us, and we will worry about them in return.

Jesus adds other two parables to let us understand being little and going unnoticed.

In fact, to enjoy God’s patient love we need to be humble and free from vanity. The very kingdom of God starts to exist in us and around us in the world in an almost unnoticeable way. Unnoticeable is the influence of a small mustard seed in the ground of the field, and unnoticeable is the action of the yeast in the big quantity of flour which is kneaded to make bread. However, in time and with patience, the minuscule seed becomes a tree which the birds of the sky, a symbol of the peoples on earth, enjoy, and the pinch of yeast transforms the flour into flavoursome bread for the men. Humility and patience will help us welcome Jesus, the king of the kingdom, the seed which bears good and flavoursome fruit for everyone.

Humility and patience will be sprinkled in our prayer too. This is what Saint Paul recommends. We think we know, but in reality we do not know what is useful for us, so we do not know how we should pray either and what we need to ask God, our Father. It is the Holy Spirit who prays for us: we will keep Him in the heart and in the mind, so he may address to the Father His supplication for us from within us. In us will grow only pure and simple desires, worthy of God. His patience then will be able to bear fruit for our salvation!