Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 26, 2025
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.”’”
Reflection
I grew up pulling weeds. While the hours I spent in my family’s flower beds probably didn’t add up to much, as a child, it felt like the chore took an eternity. It was usually hot, dirty work, and it seemed that no matter how scrupulously I attended to the task, it was never complete. And even now, far removed from my childhood home, I find myself concerned with the unsightly weeds in my young family’s front lawn.
The Master’s instructions to let the weeds remain until the harvest confuse me. If I were in charge, I’d pull those darn things out immediately! As is usually the case, I’m not thinking as God does. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he writes that all things work together for those who love God. Not only good, beautiful things. All things.
Fr. Joe Corpora, C.S.C., who providentially offers our prayer for today, once shared with me that his favorite line in the Easter Vigil Exsultet is when the church describes the sin of Adam as “happy” because it is the reason why God sends Jesus to redeem us. “O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” God brought good out of Adam’s sin. Against all odds, against our human way of thinking, against what we deserve, God transforms Adam’s weakness into something that blesses the entire world, something to celebrate. If God does that through Adam, what can God do with my weakness?
So, today, let’s consider the weeds in our lives. We’ve inherited Adam’s flower bed. No matter how much we dig in the dirt, we alone cannot uproot some of our sins and faults. And yet, we’ve also been adopted by our Father, the Master gardener, who can bring good out of evil, even the evil within our own hearts. God makes use of everything to bring us home.
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
Sts. Anne and Joachim were the parents of Mary and are the patron saints of grandparents.
We do not know much about Joachim and Anne—even their names have been handed on to us by tradition. The stories that have come down to us tell that they were likely well-off, and had been childless for most of their marriage. An angel appeared to them both to announce a birth in their old age, and Anne promised to dedicate the child to the service of God. Mary was their only child, and they presented her at the Temple when she was 3 years old, prefiguring the presentation of Jesus.
Though we know little about these people, the Church holds the parents of Mary in great esteem because they were the ones who taught her the faithfulness that she demonstrated in accepting God’s invitation to bear Jesus to the world.
Anne and Joachim are depicted in the Basilica in several places, including many wall murals that depict the life of Mary. They are shown here in this stained glass window from the Basilica, and their relics rest in the reliquary chapel there—including a piece from their house where they raised Mary.
Sts. Anne and Joachim, patron saints of grandparents—pray for us!