Weeds and wheat growing together

Prepare for Mass – 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Parable of the Weeds

Christ gave all for the his Bride, the Church, and so, it is unfailingly holy. Though the Church is made up of imperfect members, including its ministers. All of its members are in fact sinners and need to be sanctified. The weeds of sin exist in the Church mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time (harvest time). We all have not yet acquired perfect holiness. We are works in progress. Charity is the soul of holiness to which we all are called: it “governs, shapes, and perfects all the means of sanctification” -Lumen Gentium 42.

In the Parable of the Weeds – Mt 13:24-30, the weeds and the wheat are growing together until the end of time. The presence of the weeds are a cause for great suffering for the whole Church and also a good reminder we are called to repentance and to turn to God’s mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

We are also reminded that suffering is to be expected. After all, we already know how it’s all going to end. The good guys win. “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. – Mt 13:43″

Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 827
Christ, ‘holy, innocent, and undefiled,’ knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. The Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal.” All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ’s salvation but still on the way to holiness:

The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. – Paul VI, Creedo of the People of God.

PRAYER:
Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death.
Amen.