Many of you know the story of St. Augustine, but I will refresh your memories. St. Augustine was born in North Africa. His Mother, Monica, was a devout Christian and his Father a committed pagan (until his conversion on his death bed). Augustine was himself a committed hedonist. He spent much of his youth pursuing female “companionship” and he fathered a child at the age of 18. He remembers at a very young age stealing fruit with a group of friends just because it was not permitted. He ignored his Mother’s urgings to convert his life to one of faith. But her constant prayers for her son led to him studying with St. Ambrose of Milan, becoming a Catholic priest and one of the greatest Catholic minds in history.
St. Angela of Foligno (Italy) spent the majority of her first 40 years seeking wealth and status. At this point she realized the emptiness of her life despite its many possessions. The turning point of her life came when she sought God’s help in the Sacrament of Penance. She asked God’s forgiveness for her early life’s errors and converted. Soon after she lost her family and dedicated her life to works of charity and in nursing the poor.
Saint Mary of Egypt was a prostitute from the age of 12 and continued in this life for 17 years until she joined a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to solicit more customers. Upon seeing the relic of the true cross she wished to enter the church but was prevented from doing so. She begged for forgiveness and promised to renounce her sinful life if she could enter the church. She did and went on to become a desert hermit spending the rest of her 47 years fasting and praying.
In today’s Gospel we read the familiar parable of the master who sowed good seed but an enemy in the night sowed weeds in amongst the wheat. When the weeds appeared the servants wished to immediately pull them up and burn them. But the master told them no, for fear of also pulling up the wheat At an immature stage the wheat and the cockle weeds were indistinguishable. He had them wait until the harvest time when it was more obvious as to which was which and he had the weeds burned and the wheat stored in his barns.
Jesus tells His apostles that the Sower is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed is the children of the kingdom, the weeds are the children of the evil one, the enemy is the devil and the harvest is the end of the age. But it is the harvesters that are the key to the story. Jesus tells them that the ones who bring in the crops at the end are the angels…not the servants. And they wait until the harvest…the end of the age. It is at this time that the wheat, the children of the kingdom, can be distinguished from the weeds, the children of the devil.
Jesus makes it clear that, first of all, it is not the servants who are tasked with telling the good from the bad. Those servants are us. Our mission, given to us by God, is to spread the word of the Gospel. Not to condemn and judge those we meet along the way. We speak the truth and let the fertilizer of truth doing its work on the wheat and the weeds alike. And when the time is right, God’s angels will make the determination who will join Him in eternity.
The timing of that determination is not based on our desires. The servants did not want to waste time. They wanted to pull the weeds right away. Taking matters into their own hands. But the master wanted to allow time for maturing. St. Augustine, St. Angela and Saint Mary all bore fruit with time…God’s time. If it were up to us there would have been no St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church. He would have been condemned before he had an opportunity to hear God’s word. And Angela would have been judged as a social climber and Mary would be stuck in her past. Forgiveness, prayer and God’s mercy changed the weeds to wheat. It merely took a little time and patience.
Where would Peter be if Christ did not give him a chance to repent at the Last Breakfast. At that charcoal fire. Where would His Church be without Peter’s leadership. Let’s be free to guide others based on the word of God. But recognize that, ultimately, it is not until the great harvest that we will ALL be judged.
