Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 30, 2024
Jesus dismissed the crowds and 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.”
Gospel readings about “wailing and grinding of teeth” were always cause for some theological excitement on the playground. As a third grader in Catholic school, these words confused and terrified me.
One of the best homilies I have heard on this passage—and one of the few I recall from my grade school—concerns the gravity of Christ’s language. As memory serves, our school priest had received reports from recess of a dodgeball match modeled on Matthew’s text. The game itself was harmless: students divided into teams of “seeds” and “weeds;” losers were relegated to a “fiery furnace.” The teachers (and the priest) were mostly amused; impressed, I think, that the gospel’s content made it to the playground in any form. But there persisted that school week some mean chatter—some eschatological speculation of increasing nastiness—about who among us would, in the final harvest, actually be spared. A few students began to imagine the eternal “wailing and grinding of teeth” of a few others, and things quickly went to tears.
Our priest’s response during school Mass was humbling. For all the interpretations available to us, he said, this gospel passage was least of all a call to judgment (not, at least, to human judgment). He encouraged us to consider the field in Matthew’s parable not only in terms of the world but also (and primarily) in terms of ourselves. We are, all of us, good soil and bad, flower and weed. Approached this way, Matthew’s severe language is easier to grasp. But it remains a challenge. If, like Dante, we are to take God seriously as love itself, we should expect God to be serious about rooting out the parts of our lives that are not loving.
The real charity of this passage is to be found in what the weeds obscure, literally and figuratively: the good soil and the good seed. Both of these are gifts. Luckily, a good God provides us with both.
Prayer
Eternal Father, you look up on all of creation with great love. In your wisdom and patience you allow the weeds to grow up alongside the wheat. When we encounter wickedness in the world, may we stay firm in our faith and trust in your providential love. Through the grace of your Son Jesus Christ, may we remain in your love, and so bear much fruit. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Peter Chrysologus was a pivotal bishop who preserved the faith in his region of Italy in the fifth century. He was an adult convert to Christianity, then was ordained a deacon and priest before being raised to bishop of Ravenna in 433.
Many people were still practicing paganism in Ravenna when he began his work there, and this caused other Christians to fall away from the faith. He reformed and solidified the church there by encouraging frequent reception of Communion and with his preaching. Many of his homilies are still intact—most are brief because he did not want to exhaust the attention of his listeners. “Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ,” he told his people.
The witness of his life also converted many back to the faith—he was known to have offered many works of mercy, and he attended to the people under his care with diligence.
His title, “Chrysologus,” means “golden-tongued” so we know that he had a great impact on those who heard him. During his homilies, he would become so excited and animated that he would find himself at a loss for words. His simple and straightforward explanations of what we believe led the Church to declare him a doctor of the faith. He joins 36 other saints who are also known as doctors for the way their words or example taught the faith to others. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
This is an excerpt from one of his homilies:
Listen to the Lord’s appeal: … You may run away from me as the Lord, but why not run to me as your father? Perhaps you are filled with shame ... Do not be afraid. This cross inflicts a mortal injury, not on me, but on death. These nails no longer pain me, but only deepen your love for me. I do not cry out because of these wounds, but through them I draw you into my heart. My body was stretched on the cross as a symbol, not of how much I suffered, but of my all-embracing love. I count it no less to shed my blood: it is the price I have paid for your ransom. Come, then, return to me and learn to know me as your father, who repays good for evil, love for injury, and boundless charity for piercing wounds.
St. Peter Chrysologus, the doctor of the Church who preached with golden words, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Peter Chrysologus is in the public domain. Last accessed March 20, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
