Celebración de la palabra

Sunday July 19

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1. There Must Be Time to Heal
2. Patience with the Weeds

Greeting

The patience of God our Father,
the love of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the strength of the Holy Spirit
be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction

1. There Must Be Time to Heal
We all wish to see a world without evil, a Church without faults. To see that the real Church and the real world are not sinless and not perfect makes us impatient. Jesus reminds us today: be patient, for God is patient with the Church and with the world, and also with us. Let’s not forget this. He gives us the time to change. Let us ask Jesus in this Eucharist that we may begin the change of the world and of the Church with the change of ourselves.

2. Patience with the Weeds
You feel happily surprised when after a mistake or an offense on your part the person you have hurt is patient with you and gives you a new chances. That is God’s way with us. He keeps believing in us. That is also the way God wants us to treat one another. Like him, we should be fully aware that people are neither entirely good nor completely bad, and that therefore we should be patient, forgiving, trusting and give time to heal. Let us thank our Lord for his patience and ask him to make us a bit like himself.

Penitential Act

We now ask the Lord to forgive us
that we have not used the chances he gave us
to be and to do better.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, give us the courage
to change what can be changed.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, give us the patience
to accept what cannot yet be changed.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, give us the wisdom
of your own kind patience.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us the evil we have done.
Make us patient with ourselves and others
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray to our loving God
who is patient and full of compassion
(pause)
Merciful and patient God,
you let your sun rise on both bad and good
and let the rain fall on the just and the wicked alike.
Thank you for your patience and your confidence.
Change our hearts,
give us the time to grow and mature
as disciples of Jesus your Son,
and dispose us to accept everyone
with your own untiring love and trust.
Make this the way your kingdom grows among us.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

First Reading: God is Patient

God’s power does not crush or oppress, not even the sinner. He shows his strength by his patience and mercy. As he gives us time to change and be converted, we must be tolerant with one another.

Reading 1: Wis 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.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 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. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
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. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
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. Lord, you are good and forgiving.

Second Reading: The Holy Spirit Helps Us in Our Weakness

Our Christian living is imperfect, but God knows what is in our hearts; he will give us the Holy Spirit to pray in us and give us strength and hope.

Reading 2: Rom 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 groaning.
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.

Alleluia Cf. Mt 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Leave It to God to Separate the Good from the Bad

The parable of the wheat and the weeds illustrates how God is patient with an imperfect Church and weak people. Not all in the Church are seeking God’s kingdom. But God gives us the opportunity to be converted and to grow.

Gospel: Mt 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."

or Mt 13:24-30

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."

Commentary

Gosh! I'm Not God!
In my home town there was a story about a lawyer who had a very weak case to present in court. His client said to him, "You know, I have some nice fat geese at home. Would it help if I gave one to the Judge?" "Are you mad?" answered the lawyer, "Do you not know that this is the most upright and self-righteous judge in the whole country?"
They went into court and the presentation went even worse than expected. However, the judgment was given in their favor and the lawyer was totally amazed.
Later, the client said with a smile, "See how the goose worked!"
"Don't tell me," said the lawyer, "that you sent the goose!"
"I did" said the client, "But I sent it in the other fellow's name!"
There is great irony in this story because it was the righteousness of the judge that made him blind to the truth and therefore act unjustly. Saint Ignatius said long ago that Satan does not generally tempt people with evil but rather with good. He makes them desire to be perfect and to desire to make others perfect. In this way they will set standards for themselves and others that will be too high. They themselves will eventually give up on trying to reach the standards that they have set for themselves and because of their coercion and unreasonableness will turn others against the pursuit of virtue.
The Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in Gulag Archipelago, Vol II has rich insights to offer on this matter of the struggle of good and evil within us.
I learned two great lessons from being in prison camps. I learned how a person becomes evil and how he becomes good. When I was young I thought I was infallible, and I was cruel to those under me. I was madly in love with power and, in exercising it, I was a murderer and an oppressor. Yet in my most evil moments thought I was doing good, and I had plenty of arguments with which to justify my deeds. It was only when things were reversed, when as a prisoner I lay on rotten straw, that I began to feel within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually I came to realize that the line which separates good from evil passes not between states, or between classes, or between political parties - but right through every human heart. Even in hearts that are overwhelmed by evil one small bridgehead of good is retained. And in the best of all hearts, there remains an uprooted small corner of evil. The Gospels report Christ as being in constant contention with the Pharisees precisely on the issue of perfectionism and self-righteousness. For them perfection was in keeping the law and all who failed, for no matter what reason, were evil, condemned, and to be eliminated. We see this very clearly in John Chapter 8 when the adulterous woman was brought before Jesus. The authorities said, "we have a law and according to that law she must be stoned to death. What do you say?" Jesus wrote on the ground and said, "Whichever one of you has no sin throw the first stone." For Jesus compassion for the sinner came before condemnation and law.
In the Gospel today we find the farmer who has sown good seed in his field being amazed at the sight of weeds in the midst of the good plants as they grow. For me, this is one of the most insightful of the parables in the Gospel. As I listen to people, especially to young religious in directed retreats, the major question that keeps cropping up is, "Where did the weeds come from?" We discover these weeds first in the people around us. We expected those around us to be transparent, honest and forgiving but instead we find intrigue, manipulation and hatred. As we condemn these aberrations we may come to realize that we are trying to get rid of the mirror that is showing us our selves. We usually condemn and try to eradicate in others what we are afraid of in ourselves. If the direction process goes well the person will eventually come to realize that "I'm not okay and that's okay". Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, each of us has within an aristocrat in exile, a person who wants to be elite, to have a special perfect relationship - indeed equality with God. The moment of freedom and enlightenment comes with the realization. "Gosh. I'm not God." I may have been made in the image of God but I am not God. I have been called not to be perfect but to be perfect as the heavenly father is perfect. The way in which the Heavenly father is perfect is that he loves all, saint and sinner alike. He sends his rain and his sunshine on the good and on the bad alike. He has the same love for the sinner as he has for the saint, the only difference is that the saint knows that he is forgiven and loved. St Teresa of Avila used to say that awareness of one's own sinfulness is the bread (or the rice) that goes with every level of holiness. Just as in the Philippines we take rice with every meal no matter what else we may eat so too awareness of our sinfulness is an essential ingredient of all stages of the spiritual journey.
A lot of our traditional prayers are directed to making us special, trouble free and exempt from stress and suffering. Meditation is a standing in the middle between our goodness and our badness, between our good Intercessions and our interminable distractions, between the desire to change others and ourselves and a serene acceptance of what we cannot change. It is a patient act of faith in the presence of failure in the very simple but not easy task of repeating the prayer word for twenty to thirty minutes each day. It is an experience of what T.S Elliot expressed in his poem East Coker:
There is only the fight to recover
what has been lost
and found and lost again and again…
For us, there is only the trying.
The rest is not our business.

Intercessions

We do not know how to pray properly. Let the Holy Spirit express our plea for the good of the Church and of everyone. Let us say:
R/ Lord, keep us in your love.

– We do not know how to be patient properly. That the Holy Spirit keep us from judging harshly people who have done wrong, even those who have hurt us, let us pray:
R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to forgive properly. That the Holy Spirit may give us the strength to take the first step in seeking reconciliation, let us pray:
R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to hope properly. May the Holy Spirit fill us with confidence in the future of the Church and of our country, let us pray:
R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to bring justice properly. Let the Holy Spirit make us aware of the rights of people and dispose us to give all their due and more, let us pray:
R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– We do not know how to love properly. That the Holy Spirit give to our communities a sense of unity, acceptance and belonging, let us pray:
R/ Lord, keep us in your love.

Father, let your Holy Spirit prepare us in joy for the day when you will harvest the seeds you have sown among us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God, merciful Father,
your Son Jesus Christ invites to his table
the weak with the strong,
the proud with the humble.
By encountering him,
may the weak become stronger
and the good better,
and may all of us become
mild, forgiving and tolerant with each other,
as you have been patient with us
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Through Jesus and with him we offer this Eucharist to our patient and loving Father and we thank him for his mercy.

Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

We do not know how to pray as we should,
but the Holy Spirit helps us
to pray well to our Father in heaven
in the words of Jesus himself. R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us Lord, from every evil,
most of all from sin, the greatest of all evils.
Keep us free from judging and condemning,
for who are we to pass judgment on others
since we ourselves have to ask you
to be patient and lenient with us.
Help us to accept and appreciate each other
and to prepare together in joy and hope
the full coming among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus the Lord,
who sows in our hearts
the good seed of his message.
Happy are we to listen to him
and to receive him as our bread of life. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
you reveal your strength
by being lenient with the weak.
We have received your Son Jesus Christ
in this Eucharistic celebration.
Fill us with the power of his Spirit,
that we may encourage rather than condemn,
be constructive rather than hostile,
accept one another rather than reject,
work together rather than criticize.
In this way may we become more
your people among whom Jesus lives,
our Lord for ever and ever. R/ Amen.

Blessing

For people who easily classify others
more according their bad traits than their qualities,
it is good that we have been here with the Lord.
He is patient with us, forgiving
sees the good in us
and gives us the time to heal.
From him we learn to be patient with others.
So let us practice patience,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace and be patient with one another. R/ Thanks be to God.