Reading 1
Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest,
Over the great destruction, which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound.
If I walk out into the field, look! Those slain by the sword;
If I enter the city, look! Those consumed by hunger.
Even the prophet and the priest forage in a land they know not.
Have you cast Judah off completely?
Is Zion loathsome to you?
Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed?
We wait for peace, to no avail; for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.
We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness, the guilt of our fathers; that we have sinned against you.
For your name’s sake spurn us not, disgrace not the throne of your glory; remember your covenant with us, and break it not.
Among the nations’ idols is there any that gives rain?
Or can the mere heavens send showers?
Is it not you alone, O LORD, our God, to whom we look?
You alone have done all these things.
Gospel
Jesus dismissed the crowds and 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.”
Today, I want us to pay particular attention to the gospel. The riches of the first reading always carry me away but today I want to be fair to the gospel as well.
In today’s gospel, we see Jesus explaining the parable of the weeds of the field to his disciples. This morning, I want to make two points and I will end the reflection by talking about the saint of the day.
- The disciples came to Jesus to beg, “explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” Jesus went on to explain.
As simple as that seems, it’s an important lesson for us. After hearing the sermon, the disciple sought to learn more about it, they sought understanding with the desire to know how it relates to them.
Dear friends, that is the way to profit from God’s word. Whenever we hear the preaching of the word of God, we should not just allow it to stir us immediately and be unproductive thereafter. We must learn to take our time to ponder further on what we have heard, we must seek to understand deeper. One of the clearest indications of a Christian home is that it’s a place where the word of God is being shared and reflected upon.
Let us always dedicate time to communal and private meditation on God’s word, to seek to understand better and apply properly to our lives. This is what the disciples did by asking Jesus for further explanation on the parable.
- The parable tells us about two sowers. The one sowing the wheat and the one sowing thorns.
Dear children of God, everything we are doing in life is a kind of sowing. All our choices, actions, reactions and disposition to people are all sowing. If you dedicate your life to making effort to please God, to live a life of self-discipline, if you carefully avoid what will stain your integrity and you commit yourself to bring joy to other people, you are sowing.
If you lavish your life on frivolities, having loose fun, perpetrating wickedness, deceiving and cheating those who have reposed so much trust in you, causing confusion, suspicion and division among people with close ties, exploiting others, following your carnal desires, running after those you should run from, if you enjoy a life of debauchery, piling up sins, feeding on impurity and spiritual hypocrisy, assassinating character and denting people’s integrity. You are also sowing.
Dear friends, whatever we sow are what we shall reap. If you plant melon, you will reap melon, even if you plant the melon beside water, it can’t become watermelon. What you sow today, will determine your fate in the future and in eternity. Some people who are suffering terribly today are actually reaping what they had sown in the past, deeds forgotten but with an effect that lingers on.
The first reading reaffirms this truth, we hear the lamentation of the people of Israel, they sowed disobedience against God and now they reaped vanity, emptiness and misery (VEM)
The Church presents before us today, an example of one of her sons.
St Ignatius of Loyola. A man who sowed righteousness and now reaps eternity of joy.
Ignatius was a soldier and lived like many soldiers who sowed in the flesh. Grace found him when he was 30years old. He was wounded in a battle and while receiving treatment; he was opportune to read a book titled the life of Christ and the flower of the saints. He felt so challenged by the heroic lives of the saints and their love for Jesus. He gave up his military career, he gathered some companions around himself and started what later became the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
They dedicated themselves to missionary works and the defence of the faith, inspired by the true love of Jesus and the Church. Ignatius brought so many to the faith by his holiness of life, his preaching, his writing and his service to the sick and poor. Now he is reaping what he has sown. He has now been harvested into heaven where he shines like the sun in the kingdom of his Father.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami of Ilorin Diocese, Kwara State, Nigeria on Tuesday July 31, 2018.