Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 24, 2021
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.
“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.”’”
Mother Teresa had a famous poem called “Anyway” where she says, in part:
“What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway…
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.”
The sower in the gospel today embodies this poem in a powerful way for me. He gave the world the best he had, and even so, the enemy scattered weeds among his best. His response to learning about the weeds is something to which I aspire. Instead of complaining, lamenting, resisting, or dwelling on something outside his control, he focuses on what is within his control—the ability to do good. Then he lets go of everything else, knowing and trusting that God will handle what happens next.
It made me wonder how often I focus on trying to control so much of life that I inhibit my ability to do good. The sower doesn’t try to take things into his own hands, live in the past, or change something he can’t. He confidently and calmly places what he has no control over into God’s hands.
I’m at a season in my life where I’m working on my relationship with control. The sower inspires me today to discern what is within my control, do that good, and then give the final outcome over to God.
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. Sharbel Makhloof was a monk from Lebanon who lived as a hermit at the end of the 19th century. He was known for his holiness during life, a reputation that spread after his death because of the miracles and supernatural signs attributed to his intercession.
He was born in 1828 high in the Lebanese mountains and grew up tending his family’s flock of sheep. He placed an icon of Mary near the meadow where his sheep pastured and spent his days in prayer.
In 1851, he left his family and entered the monastery, where he began his formation as a monk. In time, he studied for ordination to the priesthood, and later petitioned the monastery to be allowed to live as a hermit, secluded from the monastery community. Permission was granted, and in 1875, Sharbel began living in solitude and silence and prayer, which was his life until he died of a stroke in 1898.
Months after his death and burial, his brother monks noticed a glow around his tomb. When they opened it, they found his body had not decayed and was flexible—it looked as though it was living. A blood-like fluid continually seeped from his body, which defied explanation. His tomb was re-opened 50 years later, and still was found in this condition.
Many miracles have been attributed to St. Sharbel—hundreds—and he seemed to have been an encouragement for the American monk and writer, Thomas Merton. "Sharbel lived as a hermit in Lebanon—he was a Maronite,” Merton wrote. “He died. Everyone forgot about him. Fifty years later, his body was discovered incorrupt and in short time he worked over 600 miracles. He is my new companion. My road has taken a new turning. It seems to me that I have been asleep for 9 years—and before that I was dead."
At Sharbel’s beatification Mass in 1965, Pope Paul VI said, “May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance, and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God.” He was canonized in 1977.
St. Sharbel, you were the holy monk from Lebanon who worked wonders after your death—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Sharbel Makhloof is in the public domain. Last accessed March 20, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
