Matthew 13:36-43, Tuesday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time

Today, we begin a new month. It’s August! It’s good to stop again in prayer, bend our knees and ask God to bless our new month. =) May God bless us with his overflowing graces, and continue our ministry of blessing those in need. And may God allows us to grow in his love and have a deeper communion with him.

In our Gospel today, Jesus is reminding us of the presence of weeds or bad grass in our midst. Indeed, the influence of evil and their resulting damage are  heartbreaking. The war in Marawi is not yet over. The number of dead soldiers is increasing. The internally displaced evacuees are hungry and lost. We don’t know when will it end. But sad to say, we are getting used to it. And I don’t like this feeling. I don’t want to get used to war and accept them as part of our daily life.

The Gospel tells us that when the end time comes, the Lord will gather all the weeds and burn them all. Justice will be served at the end of times. It may console us, but don’t miss the point. In this Gospel, God is not telling us to just accept the presence of evil in our midst. We need to do something about it. We need to manage our life, our nation and environment. We are stewards of all creation. We have the responsibility to engage ourselves to the problems of our society. If we cannot eliminate them totally, at least exert an effort to minimize and control them. But I believe many of our issues are manageable, if majority of us will be on board in finding solutions.

On the other hand, our experience will tell us that some these weeds are also present in our hearts. Sometimes, we tend to get used to it. We tend to accept our bad attitudes and habits as part of our life. We say to ourselves, “Ugali ko na ito. Hindi ko na mababago” or we say to others, “Hindi na yan magbabago kahit anong gawin natin. Tanggapin na lang natin.” Such statements are dangerous, it’s a temptation to resign and allow evil to win over us. This is not acceptable in God’s eyes.

We are stewards of God, we must continue our mission to manage and protect the Kingdom of God. We know that in the end, good will prevail over evil, but we cannot just wait for the end, we need to do something everyday. Preservation and wellness will always be the best cure.

The message is simple: Managing our daily life is essential. Our daily evaluation or examen of our words and actions will help us to know the weeds in us and do something about them. Be aware of your personal evil. Be ware of the pattern of your selfishness. Discipline your children and tame their bad habits at their young age. Don’t allow the weeds to grow and be deeply rooted in your family. The war, poverty, drug problem, killings, and broken family in our midst are the results of our failure to form our ourselves in God’s image and manage our weeds.

Look at your life. Look at your family. What are those glaring weeds slowly creeping in you and your family? What are you doing? The bad weeds will always find a way to enter in our hearts. We need to be vigilant in controlling them. But the question is: Are we planting good seeds to counteract these weeds? Are we planting good seeds or bad weeds? Are you managing your family well? Are you disciplining your children well or even your self?

Young weeds are weak, manageable and easy to extract. But don’t allow them to grow big and take root by doing nothing. Be active in your self-supervision. Supervise yourself well, then supervise your family. Personal care and attention will do wonders. Act now before it’s too late.