I would like to start our reflection today with
this little prayer: "Lord, may your word take deep root in my heart, that
I may bear good fruit for your glory. May I hunger for your righteousness now,
so that I may look forward to the day of eternal life with excitement and great
joy. Amen."
In the Gospel of Matthew, the image Jesus uses
is a common everyday example of planting, harvesting, and sorting the good
fruit from the bad. God's word brings life. God will reward each of us by
living our lives fully in doing His will and doing good works.
The Parable gives us reason to ponder our
tendency to rush to judgement about others.
We must keep in mind that we may always be on someone's weed list.
It also teaches us that changes can take place during the growth
process. The finished product can turn
out to be quite different from the earlier upstart.
In our responsorial psalm we acclaim: "How
lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God" (Ps 84). May we all live
as one in the house of our heavenly Father!