Father Chas Canoy
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Reflecting on the parable of the wheat and the weeds, Father Chas Canoy explains how God’s mercy allows time for conversion while assuring us that evil and suffering will not have the final word. No one is beyond God’s transformative grace, and each of us is called to share the mercy we have received.
Read the Homily Short
So once the wheat had begun to bear its yield, the workers out in the field noticed that there were weeds growing among the weed as well. So they asked their master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from? And the master responds, an enemy has done this. So notice one of the first truths this parable reveals.
God does not create anything evil. So God has made each of us in his own image and thus sees us as fundamentally good. That’s the only kind of seed God makes, the good kind.
So the weeds that crop up then are the work of the enemy, that we saw that in Genesis 2. The way he spawns the children of evil is by corrupting the good. The devil doesn’t have his own clay. All that the devil can do is take what God has made and twist it and order it and try to influence it towards evil.
With all the people suffering injustice, millions of people enslaved through human trafficking, with wars in the Ukraine and the Middle East, with the persecution of Christians in North Korea, Nigeria, Somalia, just to name a few. And with all leaders around the world who act in their own self-interest at the expense of the people they’re supposed to serve. Why doesn’t God exact retribution? And today’s parable sheds light on that question.
God the Father is like a loving parent that wants to give their wayward kid every chance to turn their life around. But that’s how much God the Father and God the Son loves us. St. Paul reminds us that all have fallen short of the glory of God.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory. None of us is perfect and yet we’re called to that perfection. That’s what God invites us to, is his perfection.
But thanks to the divine mercy of the Lord, we have been and continue to be healed from the wounds of sin. And now given the mission to be agents of that same healing and salvation for the people around us. In fact, it’s those former weeds that often become the most fruitful witnesses to others because of how stark the change in their life has become.
And they show us that no one is beyond God’s transformative grace. Now while God is merciful, you can also be rest assured that he hears the cries of his children, right? Those who have suffered and are still suffering today. Their cries don’t go unheard.
There will be divine retribution. And that’s why Jesus in this parable condemns not just evildoers in general, but singles out the unrepentant who lead others to sin. So justice will prevail because God desires the salvation of all.
His mercy will reign until the end. In conclusion, I want to encourage all of us to have that same heartfelt desire of God for the conversion and salvation of all. We’ll pray.
Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Feel free to repeat after me if you have so moved. Very brief and simple prayer.
Dear Jesus, remembering the mercy that you have shown me. Help me to be merciful as you.