GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew 13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened

to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came

and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said,

‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

Where have the weeds come from?’

He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’

His slaves said to him,

‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds

you might uproot the wheat along with them.

Let them grow together until harvest;

then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,

“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;

but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

He proposed another parable to them.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

that a person took and sowed in a field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds,

yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

It becomes a large bush,

and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'”

He spoke to them another parable.

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast

that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour

until the whole batch was leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

He spoke to them only in parables,

to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation

of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.

His disciples approached him and said,

“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,

the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.

The weeds are the children of the evil one,

and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,

so will it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send his angels,

and they will collect out of his kingdom

all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.

They will throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun

in the kingdom of their Father.

Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The word of the Lord

 

Fruitful Tares

What do I want to pull out of my marriage?

My spouse’s tares are witnesses to the harvest of my own heart. Their tares point to mine. They awaken the conscience of my soul. They are the narrow gate into my divine life. Their tares are the plough that turns over my spirit and prepares my soul for the great sowing. They are a not‑understanding that opens me, through faith, to Providence (sun, rain, drought, flood…). They are, in His hope, the letting‑go that allows Christ to strip me and lay me bare of all that I am not. They are the instrument of grace that enriches and transforms my life into abundant wheat through His Charity.

If you pull them out — you’ll miss it.

Applied to married life

Mary had spent days preparing the family meal with great enthusiasm. When he saw her, John, her husband, commented without thinking:

—You’ve made far too much. There’ll be loads left over. Same as always.

Mary thought, “He never appreciates what I do.” She was on the verge of replying with sharpness and coldness, but she remembered the parable of the tares.

“Lord, here is the tare I see in John: the way he speaks, which hurts me. But what is it revealing in my own heart?”

She held a few seconds of silence. She realised that, beyond John’s words, what truly hurt was her own need to be recognised and for everything to turn out exactly as she hoped.

John, noticing Mary’s silence, also reflected:

“Her reaction shows me my lack of gentleness. Lord, change my heart.”

He went over to her and said:

—Forgive me, Mary. Thank you for all the love you put into caring for the family.

—No, forgive me, John — Mary replied — The Lord wants to purify my pride through this.

Before the family arrived, they prayed together to give thanks for the path they were sharing:

—Jesus, help us not to pull out each other’s tares, but to allow You, through them, to transform our hearts.

The difficulty didn’t disappear, but they understood that the other’s weakness could become, by grace, the very path through which the true wheat grows: the love of Christ in their marriage.

Mother, You who are full of Grace, guide me to your Son, the path to eternal life. May He, who redeemed us with His Blood, be blessed and praised for ever.