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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
17 July 2011


We are God’s people, the sheep of his flock: come, let us worship him, alleluia.

First reading Wisdom 12:13,16-19
There is no god, other than you, who cares for every thing,
to whom you might have to prove that you never judged unjustly;
Your justice has its source in strength,
your sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all.
You show your strength when your sovereign power is questioned
and you expose the insolence of those who know it;
but, disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgement,
you govern us with great lenience,
for you have only to will, and your power is there.
By acting thus you have taught a lesson to your people
how the virtuous man must be kindly to his fellow men,
and you have given your sons the good hope
that after sin you will grant repentance.

Psalm: Psalm 85:5-6,9-10,15-16

Second reading Romans 8:26-27
The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

Gospel Matthew 13:24-43
Jesus put a parable before the crowds, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” “Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”’
He put another parable before them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’
He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’
In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy:
I will speak to you in parables
and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.
Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us.’ He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

Reflection
By Fely Santiago

Whoever has ears ought to hear

Above line was also the last line of the Gospel last week. “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” It really emphasizes the importance of listening. That’s why God gave us two ears and one mouth so we speak less and listen more.

Have you listened to God? What is it that He wants you to do? If God were trying to tell you something, would you know? 
 If God were reassuring you or challenging you would you notice?
 Let us ask for the grace to be free of our own preoccupations
 and be open to what God may be saying to us because even in our prayer time we get so many distractions – noise outside, that tasks that need to be completed, problems to be solved, pain in our body, and many others.

Let us take the time to hear our name being called by the Lord. He chooses us because He know us, trusts us and most of all, loves us.

Let us listen to Him. God speaks to us any time of the day, anywhere we are. So whether we are praying or even in the midst of what we are doing, or in the midst of an outburst of emotion, let us hear what God maybe saying to us. Listen more so we will be ready to hear the calling of God to love others more, to be His disciple in spreading the good news.

Jesus makes it very clear to those who want to follow Him that it will not be an easy life. The life of discipleship, of loving others is about being disciplined in all things especially those that have to do with our faith. This means being willing to make the hard choices involved in avoiding sin and doing good. If we are not ready to do this then we should pray for the grace of surrender.

Dear Jesus, You always welcomed little children when You walked on this earth. Teach me to have a childlike trust in You. To live in the knowledge that You will never abandon me. Give me the grace to listen more so I can love more. Amen.