Mt 13:24-30
Jesus told the people another parable, “The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a man, who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came, and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
When the plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also appeared. Then, the servants of the owner came, and said to him, ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’
He answered them, ‘This is the work of an enemy.’ They asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ He told them, ‘No, when you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let them grow together, until harvest; and, at harvest time, I will say to the workers: Pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
REFLECTION
In the Vatican II Weekday Missal, the saint we are remembering today, Bridget of Sweden, is classified a “religious.” She did indeed establish a religious order of women, the Order of the Holy Savior, more popularly known as the Bridgetines. But the fact that she was married for 28 years and raised eight children doesn’t seem to count in the eyes of the celebate clerics who classify saints…
Born in Sweden in 1302 of noble stock, Bridget married Ulf Gudmarson at 14 years old. For the next 28 years she and Ulf led a life centered on their family, their Catholic Church and their community. After her husband’s death in 1344, Bridget lived as a penitent near a Cistercian monastery. There she experienced visions and revelations about the Passion of Jesus Christ and the current conditions in the Church and in Europe. These revelations were put down on paper and are still extant. In 1349 Bridget went to Rome and remained there for the rest of her life until her death in 1373.
Here was a great woman, who lived the life of a devoted mother and wife. She was canonized in 1391, barely 18 years after her death. Bridget’s maid testified that “she had a laughing face.”
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