Reflections of Caritas

THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 

GOSPEL: Matthew 13: 24-43

Dear friends,

We encounter today a parable that answers one of the most basic and perplexing questions people can have about God’s kingdom; If the kingdom of heaven has indeed come, why is evil still present? In fact, why does it seem that evil is stronger than ever? Or why does God let bad things happen to good people?

That was a very practical question for the disciples. After all, if the kingdom of heaven had indeed come and had begun to spread upon the earth, why was it that Jesus was meeting with such great opposition from the Jewish religious leaders? Why were they plotting to kill Him? Why was there so much resistance to Him as “King”?

Like the disciples, the servants in the parable are very inquisitive, they put forward to their master an important question; “Where, then, did these weeds come from?” There is an urgency to their question. They want to know what happened and who is responsible. So do we. That’s what we want to know when we discover weeds in our fields. We want an explanation and someone we can blame, hold accountable, and even punish. Far too often we see that in our day to day life situations and opinions. Jesus, however, seems less interested in this approach than we are. He doesn’t give it much time or attention.

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THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

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Dear friends,

We don’t have to look too far to see that there are so many people in our world today suffering. Every day there are countless victims of random and senseless acts of shame and hatred. Many are dying and suffering because of poverty, ignorance, famine and drought. Sadly these situations are now a feature of our world today. But in our own daily lives, each of us experiences pain, difficulty and suffering. This comes in many forms; Covid-19, ill-health, bad news from the doctor, long term unemployment, a long standing family problem and many other seemingly ordinary experiences we each have every day. There are also other kinds of burdens we face, burdens of sin, or temptation, burden of guilt, burdens of conflicting loyalties, burdens of providing for our families, this life is filled with stress, with cares, with worries, with situations that call for us to make choices that sometimes are not pleasant to make. We can often believe or assume that we can or should be able to cope on our own when we experience these or similar difficulties. This is a mistake. We don’t have to cope on our own and more importantly we can’t.

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Dear friends,

On this thirteenth Sunday, we are exhorted to welcome Christ in others. This is especially, through the messengers of God and the needy people among us. We are further encouraged to be sensitive to the needs of one another in order to make a positive difference in their lives.

Jesus says that he is a above everyone and everything in our lives- even family! But this does not mean that we ignore others, especially those who might be in any sort of need. Through generosity and hospitality, we attract God's blessings to our homes and family thus transforming our lives and fortunes as well.

Today some people are so indifferent to others and their needs. We live in a sort of "do it yourself" world. But we all need to depend on others in one way or another.

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