OF WEEDS AND SEEDS

Readings for sunday, July 20, 2014

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is-Sittax-il Ħadd matul is-Sena

Missalin A  p 332

  

Reading 1    -           wisdom 12:13, 16-19

There is no god besides you who have the care of all,  that you need show you have not unjustly condemned.  For your might is the source of justice;  your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.  For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved;  and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.  But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,  and with much lenience you govern us;  for power, whenever you will, attends you.  And you taught your people, by these deeds,  that those who are just must be kind;  and you gave your children good ground for hope  that you would permit repentance for their sins.  This is the Word of the Lord.

1 Qari   -   Għerf 12, 13, 16-19

M'hemmx Alla ieħor ħliefek, li jieħu ħsieb kollox  biex  ikollok turih li ma qjatx il-ħaqq ħażin. Għax is-setgħa tiegħek hi l-għajn tal-ġustizzja, u, għax int Sid ta' kollox, lil kulħadd tagħder.  Int turi saħħtek ma' min ma jemminx fil-kobor ta' setegħtek; u trażżan 'il dawk li, għalkemm jafuha, iqumu kontriha. Għax sid il-qawwa, int tagħmel il-ħaqq bil-ħniena;   lilna tmexxina bi tjieba kbira.  Għalkemm għandek is-setgħa, issibha wkoll meta tridha.  B'dan l-għemil int għallimt lill-poplu tiegħek,  li l-ġust għandu jkun twajjeb.  Din hi t-tama sabiħa li inti tajt lil uliedek,  li inti tagħti żmien għall-indiema ta' dnubiethom.  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Responsorial Psalm   -  psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16

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/

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/

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/

Salm Responsorjali                    -         Salm 85 (86)

                R/   Mulej, inti twajjeb u taħfer

Int, Sidi, twajjeb u taħfer,

kollok tjieba għal kull min isajjaħlek.

Agħti widen, Mulej, għat-talba tiegħi,

isma' l-leħen ta' l-ilfiq tiegħi.                                     R/

Il-ġnus kollha, li għamilt, jiġu jinxteħtu quddiemek,

u jsebbħu ismek, Sidi.

Għax kbir int, u għemejjel ta' l-għaġeb tagħmel; 

int waħdek Alla!               `                                              R/

Int, Alla Sidi, ħanin u twajjeb,

iddum biex tagħdab, kollok tjieba u fedelta',

Ħares lejja u ħenn għalija,

Agħti qawwa lill-qaddej tiegħek.                             R/

Reading 2                romans 8:26-27

Brothers and sisters:  The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;  for we do not know how to pray as we ought,  but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.  And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones  according to God’s will.  This is the Word of the Lord.

2  Qari       -   Ittra lir-Rumani 8, 26-27

Ħuti, l-Ispirtu, min-naħa tiegħu, jgħinna fin-nuqqas  ta' ħila tagħna.  Għax aħna anqas biss nafu nitolbu  kif imiss, imma l-Ispirtu stess jidħol għalina bit-talb  tiegħu bi tnehid li ma jistax jitfisser bil-kliem; u Alla, li l-ħarsa tiegħu tinfed il-qlub, jaf x'inhi x-xewqa ta' l-Ispirtu; bit-talb tiegħu jidħol għall- qaddissin skond ma jrid Alla. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Gospel                                  matthew 13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, 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.”’”  He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a  mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.  It is the smallest of  all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.  It becomes a  large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’”  He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”  All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables  I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.   Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”  He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.  The weeds are the children of the evil one,  and the enemy who sows them is the devil.  The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.   Just as weeds are  collected and burned up with fire,  so will it be at the end of the age.  The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom  all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.   They will throw them into the fiery furnace,  where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.   Then the righteous will shine like the sun  in the kingdom of their   Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”   This is the Word of the Lord.

L-Evanġelju  -     skond San Mattew 13, 24-43

F'dak iż-żmien, Ġesu' qal lin-nies din il-parabbola: "Is-saltna tas-Smewwiet tixbaħ lil wieħed raġel li żara' żerriegħa tajba fl-għalqa tiegħu.  Iżda xħin in-nies kienu reqdin, ġie l-għadu tiegħu, żara' s-sikrana qalb il-qamħ u telaq.   Meta mbagħad  il-qamħ nibet u ħareġ is-sbul, tfaċċat ukoll is-sikrana. Resqu l-qaddejja fuq is-sid l-għalqa u qalulu: "Sinjur, int mhux  żerriegħa tajba żrajt fl-għalqa tiegħek?  Mela din is-sikrana mnejn ġiet?   Iżda hu qalilhom:  Dil-biċċa għamilhieli xi għadu tiegħi.""Tridx immorru  niġbruha?"  qalulu l-qaddejja."Le qalilhom, għax intom u tiġbru s-sikrana  għandkom mnejn taqilgħu magħha il-qamħ ukoll.  Erħulhom jikbru  t-tnejn flimkien sal-ħsad; meta mbagħad jasal il-ħsad, ngħid lill-ħassada:  Iġbru s-sikrana l-ewwel, u orbtuha qatta qatta għall-ħruq, imbagħad   qiegħdu l-qamħ fil-maħżem tiegħi."   Ġibilhom parabbola oħra u qalilhom:  "Is-Saltna tas-Smewwiet tixbaħ lil  żerriegħa tal-mustarda,li wieħed raġel ikun qabad u żeragħha fl-għalqa tiegħu.  Hija tabilħaqq l-iżgħar waħda fost iż-żrieragħ kollha, iżda meta tikber, tkun  l-akbar waħda fost il-ħxejjex u ssir  siġra, hekk li l-għasafar tal-ajru jiġu jbejtu  fil-friegħ tagħha."  Qalilhom parabbola oħra:  "Is-Saltan tas-Smewwiet tixbaħ lil ftit ħmira li waħda  mara tkun qabdet u ħalltet ma' tliet sigħan dqiq sa ma tkun għolliet l-għaġna kollha."  Dan kollu Ġesu' qalu bil-parabboli lin-nies, u mingħajr xi parabbola ma kienx  ikellimhom, biex hekk iseħħ dak li kien ingħad permezz tal-profeta meta qal: "Nifitaħ follmi bil-parabboli, nitkellem fuq ħwejjeġ moħbij sa mit-twaqqif tad-dinja."  Imbagħad ħalla n-nies u mar id-dar.  Resqu lejħ id-dixxipli tiegħu u qalulu:  "Fissrhielna l-parabbola tas-sikrana fl-għalqa."   U weġibhom:  "Dak li jiżra  ż-żerriegħa tajba huwa Bin il-bniedem.  L-għalqa hija d-dinja;  iż-żerriegħa  t-tajba  huma wlied is-Saltna; is-sikrana huma wlied il-Ħażen, u l-għadu li  żeragħha huwa x-Xitan.  Il-ħsad ifisser tmiem id-dinja, u l-ħassada l-anġli.   Mela bħalma s-sikrana jiġbruha  u jaħarquha fin-nar, hekk isir fi tmiem id-dinja. Bin il-bnedem jibgħad l-anġli tiegħu, u huma jiġbru barra mis-Saltan tiegħu kull  ma jġib it-tfixkil u kull min jagħmel il-ħażen, u jixħtuhom fil-ħuġġieġa tan-nar, hemmhekk ikun hemm il-biki u t-tgħażżiż tas-snien.  Imbagħad il-ġusti jsiru jiddu  bħax-xemx, fis-Saltna ta' Missierhom.  Min għandu widnejn, ħa jisma!" Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

//////////////////////////

COMMENTARY:  

By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap

OF WEEDS AND SEEDS

Jesus sketched the situation of the Church in the world with three parables. The grain of mustard seed that becomes a tree indicates the growth of the Kingdom of God on earth. Also the parable of leaven in the dough signifies the growth of the Kingdom, not so much in extension as in intensity. It indicates the transforming force of the Gospel that raises the dough and prepares it to become bread.  These two parables were easily understood by the disciples, but not so the third, the seeds and the weeds, which Jesus explained to them separately. The sower, he said, was himself, the good seeds were the children of the Kingdom, the bad seeds were the children of the evil one, the field was the world and the harvest was the end of the world.

In antiquity, Jesus' parable was the object of a memorable dispute that it is very important to keep in mind also today. There were sectarian spirits, the Donatists, who resolved the matter in a simplistic way: On one hand was the Church (their church) made up wholly and solely of the perfect; on the other was the world full of children of the evil one, without hope of salvation.

St. Augustine opposed them: The field, he explained, is, indeed, the world, but it is also the Church, the place in which saints and sinners live side-by-side, and in which there is room to grow and to be converted. "The evildoers," he said, "exist in this way either so that they will be converted, or because through them the good exercise patience."

Hence the scandals that every now and then shake the Church should sadden, but not surprise us. The Church is made up of human persons, not wholly and solely of saints. There are weeds also in every one of us, not only in the world and in the Church, and this should render us less ready to point the finger.

To Luther, who rebuked Erasmus of Rotterdam for staying in the Catholic Church notwithstanding her corruption, the latter responded: "I support this Church in the hope that she will become better, because she is also constrained to bear with me in the hope that I will become better."

Perhaps the main subject of the parable, however, is neither the seeds nor the weeds, but God's patience. The liturgy underlines it with the selection of the first reading, which is a hymn to God's strength that is manifested under the form of patience and indulgence. God's patience is not simply patience, namely, awaiting the Day of Judgment so as to punish more severely. It is forbearance, mercy, the will to save.

The parable of the seeds and the weeds lends itself to a wider reflection. One of the principal motives of embarrassment for believers and of rejection of God by nonbelievers has always been the "disorder" that exists in the world. Ecclesiastes, which in so many instances makes itself the spokesman of doubters and skeptics, noted, "There is the same lot for all, for the just and the wicked" (9:2). And, "Under the sun in the judgment place I saw wickedness, and in the seat of justice, iniquity" (3:16).

At all times, iniquity has been seen as triumphant and innocence as humiliated. "However," noted the great orator Bossuet, "so that the world is not believed to be something fixed and secure, note that sometimes the contrary is seen, namely, innocence on the throne and iniquity on the scaffold. "

The response to this scandal was already found by the author of Ecclesiastes: "And I said to myself, both the just and the wicked God will judge, since there is a time for every affair and on every work a judgment" (3:17). It is what Jesus calls in the parable "the time of harvest." In other words, it is a question of finding the precise point of observation in face of the reality, of seeing things in the light of eternity.

It is what happens with certain modern paintings that, seen up close, seem a medley of colors without order or meaning, but seen from the correct distance they reveal a precise and powerful design.

It is not a question of remaining passive and in expectation in face of evil and injustice, but of struggling with all licit means to promote justice and repress injustice and violence. To this effort, which involves men of good will, faith adds assistance and support of inestimable value -- the certainty that the final victory will not be that of injustice and arrogance, but of innocence.

Modern man finds it difficult to accept the idea of God's Last Judgment on the world and history, but in this he contradicts himself because it is he himself who rebels against the idea that injustice has the last word.

In so many millennia of life on earth, man has become accustomed to everything: He has adapted himself to all climates, and immunized himself against so many sicknesses. However, he has never become accustomed to one thing: injustice. He continues to see it as intolerable. And it is to this thirst for justice that the judgment will respond. This will not be willed only by God, but by all men and, paradoxically, even by the ungodly.

"In the day of the universal judgment," says the poet Paul Claudel, "it is not only the Judge who will descend from heaven, but the whole earth will precipitate the encounter."

How much human affairs change when seen from this angle, even those that are happening in the world today! Let us take the phenomenon, which so humiliates and saddens us Italians, of organized crime. Recently, Roberto Saviano's book "Gomorrah," and later the film made about it, documented the degree of odiousness and contempt of others gathered around the heads of these organizations, but also the sense of impotence and almost of resignation of society in face of the phenomenon.

We saw in the past people of the mafia accused of horrible crimes, defend themselves with a smile on their lips, defeating the judges and courts, gaining strength by the lack of evidence. As if, pretending to be candid before the human judges, they resolved everything. If I could address them I would say: Don't delude yourselves, poor unfortunate ones; you haven't accomplished a thing! The real judgment must still begin. You may end your days in liberty, honored, and finally with a splendid religious funeral, after having left hefty donations for charitable works, but you will not have accomplished anything. The true Judge awaits you behind the door, and you can't cheat him. God does not allow himself to be bribed.

Hence, what Jesus says at the end of his explanation of the parable of the weeds should be a reason for consolation for the victims, and of healthy dread for the violent. "Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with the fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father."

[Translation from the Italian original by ZENIT]