By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 19, 2020
Wisdom 12: 13, 16-19; Roman 8: 26-27; Matthew 13: 24-43
One thing that is certain about anything is that it will end. Our life too will end! However not necessarily only at the end of our life, but at every moment of our life, as we make decisions, as we go through actions, as we choose our words to speak and our opinions to make, we are liable for judgement. The one who judges us is not anyone who is placed above us or those who are around us; but Lord God, the Just Judge!
The Lord alone can judge, for it is the Lord alone who knows our innermost thoughts and fundamental attitudes. When the Lord judges, the Lord judges not the action but the attitude, not the decision but the disposition, not the choice but the underlying intention and priority. Nothing can escape from the all-knowing, ever present God who knows us through and through. That is both a challenge and a grace: a challenge because we cannot deceive God; a grace because the Lord never judges us rashly – the Lord is a Just Judge.
The Just Judge is Mighty but Merciful. The book of wisdom, in the first reading, so beautifully brings out the fact that the Lord is mighty but merciful as a judge. The Lord knows everything and sees through everything, but treats us with mercy and kindness. As St. Paul expresses in the second reading, the Spirit of the Lord knows us and inspires us from within.
At times we fail repeatedly in our daily life, with tendencies that overpower us and with temptations that make us fumble. The Lord knows it all, but the Lord’s mercies never cease! The Lord has perfect control over us and can decide to pull out the weeds at any time, but that is not who God is! God is merciful and loving, slow to anger and abounding in love! The Lord gives us all the possibilities that we need, all the time that we need and all the strength we need to make the right choices, the right decisions, the right moves. Does the Lord not assure us through the Apostle that we are never tested beyond our capacity? (1 Cor 10:13) The Judge is mighty, powerful and capable of pulling us out, but at the same time, the Lord is merciful, compassionate and totally respectful towards us.
The Just Judge is Particular but Patient. The Lord is not satisfied with any mediocre life. The Lord is particular about the way we are to live our life. The Lord has set an ideal as acceptable way of life and wants us to live up to that. Nothing short of perfection is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord; but the Lord is patient. The Lord endures the wait. The Lord walks with us, step by step as we proceed towards this perfection.
When we lack in perfection, we actually are not testing the patience of the Lord, for the Lord’s patience is endless, but we are running the risk of not being “gathered into the Lord’s barn” (Mt 13:43). There is no end to the Lord’s patience, but our possibilities are limited and it is we who have to feel the urgency! One thing that we need to understand is, the Lord is compassionate but never compromising; patient but never permissive. Yes, we do have all the time to make the right choice and the right decision, but is it so difficult to understand that the sooner it is, the better? Not for the Lord’s sake, but for ours. The farther we get from the Lord, the harder it gets to return to the Lord, doesn’t it?
The Just Judge is Firm but Forgiving. The Lord is demanding but absolutely understanding. The Lord’s firmness never lessens the readiness to forgive. The justice of the Lord is guided by love, the absolute love that characterises the Lord alone! Firmness of God is in the very nature that we have inherited as sons and daughters of God. We know what is right, what is true and what is holy! We know we are called to live by these…at times there are so many things around us that try to suppress this clarity, just as the weeds do to the plants.
We are called to be plants, giving fruit, blossoming flowers and putting forth the yield, because we are children of God. We would belong to the Reign when we give fruit, however small or negligible it be: just a small mustard seed can give rise to a tree that houses hundreds of birds, a bit of yeast can leaven a bunch of dough. The Lord gives us chances but never relents from the demand to bear fruit. Forgiveness is never a compromise, it is always another chance to start anew, firm in conviction to reach the perfection.
The Lord is a just judge, loving and merciful, patient and kind, understanding and forgiving! Yet it is our duty to realise our call and bear fruit, grow into plants and not into weeds!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.