Mt 13:36-43
Then he sent the crowds away and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” Jesus answered them, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed are the people of the kingdom; the weeds are those who follow the evil one. The enemy who sows the weeds is the devil; the harvest is the end of time, and the workers are the angels.
Just as the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom all that is scandalous and all who do evil. And these will be thrown into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the just will shine, like the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears, then hear. “
REFLECTION
In today’s gospel reading Jesus warns us that “the field is the world” and that those fighting in it are divided into two camps, “the sons of the Kingdom” and “the sons of the Evil One.”
Actually we could complete the thought of Jesus by transposing it from the level of general history to that of the individual conscience, and by saying, “the field is the human heart.” For, in reality, no human heart is totally good or totally evil. It too is sown with wheat and weeds in varying proportions, and it too is the theater of a gigantic struggle between God and Satan. These two protagonists endeavor in every way to secure our adherence to their respective Kingdoms. And each one of our moral decisions favors at one time one of these two Kingdoms, at another time the other one.
In this prodigious combat, things are not settled once and for all as long as we still have a breath of life left in us. At the last moment, the mere act of looking up to God with repentance can transform in the twinkling of an eye the barren field of our heart into a sea of beautiful stalks.
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