杏MAP导航

By Vatican News

With the parable of the wheat and the weeds, said 杏MAP导航 Francis said at the Sunday Angelus, Jesus 鈥渉elps us understand God鈥檚 patience, opening our hearts to hope.鈥�

In Sunday鈥檚 Gospel reading, Jesus tells the parable of the man who plants good wheat in his field. In the night, an enemy sows weeds among the wheat; and when wheat and weeds begin growing together, the farmer鈥檚 servants desire to pull out the weeds. The master, though, tells them to wait until the harvest, for fear that they will pull up the wheat with the weeds.

"Between us," he said, " we can say that even today the soil has been infested by so many herbicides, weed killers, and poisons that do harm to ourselves and the earth. "

Called to patience

In this parable, 杏MAP导航 Francis explains, the master of the field is God, 鈥渨ho only and always sows good seed,鈥� and whose 鈥済oal is a good harvest.鈥� The adversary is the devil, 鈥淕od鈥檚 quintessential opponent鈥� who, out of 鈥渆nvy and hostility鈥� seeks to destroy the work of God. 鈥淭he devil鈥檚 intention is to hinder the work of salvation, to stonewall the kingdom of God through wicked workers, the sowers in scandal,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said. The wheat and the weeds are not a symbol of abstract good and evil, but a representation of human beings, 鈥渨ho can follow God or the devil.鈥�

And he noted, many times we too hear about a family or a community who was in peace suddenly is divided by conflict, envy. "Nasty things begin to happen," he said remarking on how we accuse someone of sowing gossip".

"It is always the devil or our temptions if we fall into the temptation to gossip and destroy others," he said..

杏MAP导航 Francis contrasts the desire of the servants 鈥渢o eliminate evil 鈥� that is, evil people 鈥� immediately,鈥� with the plan of God, which is wiser and more far-seeing. The disciples of Jesus, he said, are called to be patient, to focus on saving the wicked, rather than suppressing them.

Two visions

鈥淭oday鈥檚 Gospel presents two ways of acting and living history,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said: 鈥渢he vision of the master on the one hand, that of the servants on the other.鈥� While the servants are focused on ridding the field of weeds, the master is concerned with the good wheat, and knows how to protect it 鈥渆ven amongst the weeds.鈥�

杏MAP导航 Francis warned against 鈥渢hose who are always hunting for the limitations and defects of others.鈥� Instead, it is 鈥渢hose who know how to recognise the good that silently grows in the field of the Church and history, cultivating it to maturity,鈥� who are able to collaborate in the vision of God.

In the end, he said, 鈥渋t will be God, and He alone, who will reward the good, and punish the wicked."