Evening,
4 February 2017 / Dominica 5 post Epiphaniam / Church of St John
and he said:
No, lest perhaps, gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together
with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest (Mt 13:29-30).
In our epistle this evening, St Paul
exhorts us through the Colossians: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, . . .
compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another
. . . as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”[1] It should be noted: that
the word compassion here is used to
translate the Latin phrase viscera
misericordiae: “the bowels, the depths of mercy.”
On the other hand, non-Catholics will
often malign us with talk of scandal and inquisitions and all manner of evil
conduct. How can your religion be a valid one, they ask, when so many of your
fellow Catholics have done terrible things? We have all heard it, and we shall
hear it again. The last things that so many of our martyrs heard on this earth
were the slanders and insults and curses that spring from the hearts of those
who hate our religion.
Be that as it may, what St Paul
exhorts you and I to do—to be meek and patient and forbearing—Christ already
is. The Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat that we heard a moment ago is a
profound revelation of the viscera of
Christ’s mercy and his wisdom. This parable is the answer to those who would slander our faith, those who would
claim that our religion is a false one because of the weeds that grow in it.
The governance of any society of
human beings is a vastly delicate affair. God knows this because he made us. He
knows that the intricate web of human relationships, the projects and
partnerships we undertake, the dependencies we have on one another—all these
are mysteriously necessary to his Providence, and are not to be interfered with
lightly. Only once did God destroy the entirety of the human race, except for
Noah and his kin: and the rainbows that you and I see after a summer storm are
the sign that he will not do this again.[2] On the slopes of Mt Sinai
God threatened the destruction of the chosen people because of their idolatry,
but Moses intercedes and it is not carried out.[3] Christ confirms this for
us: no, it is not wise to destroy the bad wholesale, “lest perhaps, gathering
up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it.”
Remarkably, Christ reveals that to uproot all those who fail to live the Catholic
life might somehow damage those who strive to do so. Therefore, when St Paul tells us to
put on the viscera misericordiae, to
bear with the frailties of others, to be meek and patient—he is echoing the Parable
of the Weeds and Wheat. If God himself tolerates weeds to sprung up among the
wheat of his chosen ones in the Church, then we can never be scandalized by
what we see around us. Do not be confused or distressed by this; Christ the
Master knows it well—somehow, it is out
of regard for you and me that he permits the weeds and wheat to grow together.
Nevertheless, dearly beloved,
Christ’s mercy is also his mastery: his mercy encompasses justice. Later on in
Matthew 13, he explains the parable, and we learn that the cockle growing up with the wheat is, in the last analysis, a
temporary state of affairs. Our Lord says to the disciples:
the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers
are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be
at the close of the age. The Son of man will send his angels and they will
gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and throw them
into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.[4]
It not on account of powerlessness
that the Master allows the weeds to grow with wheat; as we have already said—it
is, rather, a loving regard for our weakness and his Providence that he permits
it. Therefore, keep this parable close to your hearts in the difficult times in
which we live. Never be afraid or ashamed. We see, somehow, that the mystery of
evil within the Church is not an indication that our religion is false—on the
contrary, you and I make the radical
claim that, precisely on account of this parable, our religion is the only true
one. Why? Because it is for mercy that our Master permits weeds and wheat
to grow together; and when that mercy is perfected, in strength and justice he
will make all things well. On that day, as he said, the angels “will gather out
of his kingdom all scandals, and them that work iniquity . . . Then shall the
just shine as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father.”
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