Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 23, 2023
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.”
Silence speaks volumes. Jesus unpacks only one of the parables today—he says he has sown many who seek the kingdom of God in the world. But the devil prowls about, sowing seeds of deceit in hearts for the ruin of souls. And some follow him.
But how does this relate to the second parable?
Wheat must be ground into flour and leavened before it is made into bread. When we strive for the kingdom of God, we, like wheat, are also ground: “Blessed are you when people revile you … because of me.” (Jn. 12:24) Most importantly, though, we must receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Like leaven, he makes us rise into a heavenly loaf.
But there is another way to look at this parable. Our responsibility and joy as those who know God is to leaven the world around us. This privilege falls particularly to those living lay vocations (see Post-Synodal, Apostolic Exhortation from Pope John Paul II Christifideles Laici).
In our lay vocations, we leaven our communities, drawing more people to the kingdom and helping the kingdom of God expand as yeast makes bread dough expand. We are peculiarly situated to build up the kingdom of God. By living out the love that Christ has shown us in calling us friends, by always being ready to give a reason for our hope, and by witnessing to the truth planted in our hearts, we become God’s yeast, making his kingdom rise.
Will some still choose evil? Christ will be the judge of that. But if we are truly children of the kingdom of God, our privilege as lay Catholics is to do our little part to build up that kingdom, one soul and one community at a time.
Prayer
You alone, Lord, know what is the wheat of our lives and what is the weed in our lives. Help us to be patient as the wheat and the weeds co-exist and grow together. Help us to trust in your work in our lives even when we don’t know which is which. Help us to entrust everything to your mercy until that day when you separate the weeds from the wheat. Help us to believe that you know what you’re doing and would never allow anything to harm us. We believe that you will turn everything into good in our lives. This we pray through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Bridget of Sweden, the mother and mystic known as the “patroness of failures,” pray for us!
Bridget of Sweden was a mystic saint whose visions helped guide the Church in the 14th century.
She was born in 1303 to a family who was related to the royal house of Sweden. Her father was a regional governor and a judge, and both of her parents were pious. They would receive the sacraments frequently and went on pilgrimages as far away as the Holy Land.
When Bridget was 10, her mother died. Along with two younger siblings, she was raised by an aunt, who was just as faithful as her mother.
While she still was a young girl, Bridget started to receive visions, mostly seeing Jesus on the cross. She asked Jesus who had done this to him, and he replied, “All those who despise my love.” The vision left a deep impression on her and profoundly shaped her spirituality. She continued to receive visions during her whole life.
When she was 13, she was married according to the custom of the time, and the couple bore eight children. One daughter was eventually canonized St. Catherine of Sweden.
She and her husband went on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Her husband became dangerously ill on the journey, but was healed when Bridget received a vision from St. Denis, who told her that she would do great works.
The King of Sweden appointed Bridget as lady-in-waiting to his queen, and from this position, Bridget counseled the king and queen, as well as many priests and theologians.
When her husband became ill again, Bridget took him to a monastery for care. He died and was buried there, and Bridget remained at the monastery in a small room, praying and grieving. She prayed for guidance, and received a revelation that she was to establish a new religious order.
She renounced her title as princess and her role at court, and was mocked for this decision. As soon as she had begun organizing the new order of nuns, she received another vision that directed her to go to Rome, to encourage the pope to return there from Avignon, France, where the papacy was located due to a conflict with the French crown. She spent the rest of her life as a pilgrim in Rome, writing of her visions and counseling kings and popes (she is sometimes known as Bridget of Rome). Her accounts of the revelations she was given in her visions and prayer were popular through the Middle Ages.
She did not see any of her major works completed—she left Sweden before the abbey she founded was completed, and she did not live to see the pope return to Rome. She is known as the patroness of failures, even though both of these endeavors saw success after her death on this date in 1373 in Rome.
The religious order she founded is still active today, known as the Bridgettines, and she is patron of Europe and of Sweden. Her relics rest in the reliquary chapel of the Basilica, and she is also depicted in these stained glass windows there.
St. Bridget of Sweden, the mother and mystic known as the “patroness of failures,” pray for us!