Three Parables 16th Sunday In Ordinary Time Year A 2011

this is the sixteenth Sunday in ordinary time. In the Gospel the Lord, Jesus, gives his listeners three parables concerning The Kingdom of Heaven. The weeds sown among the wheat, the tiny mustard seed and the yeast the woman mixed with the three measures of flour, until the whole batch was leavened.

What Jesus proclaims to the crowds in the Gospel He speaks also to us through the power of The Holy Spirit. Jesus concludes by saying, "whoever has ears let him hear." The first parable is very clear. The Master who is God sowed good seed in his field. The field  being the world. The weeds found among the wheat was sown by the enemy of God. The Master refuses to have the weeds disturbed for fear the wheat will be disturbed as well so the Master waits for the harvest when the weeds will be cut down, bundled and thrown into the fire while the wheat will go into the Masters barn. The enemy is called the Devil in the Gospel passage.. The Masters barn is the kingdom of Heaven..

Jesus said in another place, "Whoever believes in me and keeps my commandments will have eternal life". The Lord is compassionate, merciful , forgiving and patient. Jesus has come not to judge the world but to save it. The time for judgement is at the moment of death of each of us. That moment  of decision is irreformable and everlasting. We cannot judge what it will be. Only God who knows the heart can do that.

We might question why Jesus would speak of the Kingdom of Heaven in this decisive way. His concern is for the happiness and eternal salvation of each of us.

"Where your treasure is there is your heart as well. " In the parable it is the yeast that leavens the whole batch, the yeast is an additive. It is something added from outside. That additive is sanctifying grace flowing from the Holy Cross of divine sacrafice made available through the sacraments of the Church.

We often hear the term, "The people of God" used to designate a group, and a group that has been or is in the process of salvation simply by membership in such a group. But our relationship with Jesus Christ is personal." He knows what is in your mind and heart before you do". It is the Holy Spirit that makes it known to you so that you may lead a virtuous life. So say the saints, like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

St. Augustine lived a sinful a careless life. he lived with a woman not his wife and had a son with her. He knew there was more but was held captive by sin. He said to God. "set me free from my sinfulness, but not yet". Now in his early thirties and in Italy, He walked and mused one day in a garden. He heard a child's voice saying,"Take up and read". There was a book lying open on a bench which the breeze had opened to a passage of St. Paul in the scriptures. Augustine picked up the book and read. That occurance changed his life. St. Augustine became the bishop of Hippo in North Africa, a great writer and theologian of the fifth century whose mother, St. Monica, prayed for her son for thirty years without an inkling that her prayers were heard. We are not called to be successful but faithful. The yeast of love and prayer leavened the whole of Augustine's life:The batch that was the man.

The final parable is number two, the one in the middle, the mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds. The human body is formed by the soul. The soul is made in the image and likeness of God. The sin of our first parents found us aliantated from God  It was the sacrifice of Christ that restored our family relationship with our Father in Heaven. When our soul is continually infused with the grace that sanctifies we then grow and develope as does the very small mustard seed grow into a large bush. From its smallness it is destined to become large and a home for Christ. The human being cannot grow and become whar it is destined for without a continual infusion of God's life which is a share in God's very being.

St. Augustine said, "God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee".

It is Jesus who we will meet at the particular judgement. We will recognize that judgement as a just one".

The general judgement will occur at the end of time. Our souls will be reunited with our glorified bodies: there will be new heavens and a new earth. In the book of Revelations we are told that period will be the marriage feast of the Lamb.

The more we become like Christ the more glory we can expect in heaven, and the more suffering there will be in this life. At Baptism we promised to die with Him. There is a story about a woman named Phyllis who died. She had been wealthy and lived in a big house in a nice neighborhood. She was admitted to heaven and was greeted by an angel who said she would lead Phyllis to her new abode. They walked through several areas that were nice and Phyllis was excited about coming to her place among them. However they kept on going through some not so nice areas. They really looked like slums. The angel stopped in front of a very small house that was run down with the gate hanging on one hinge. The Angel said to Phyllis, "here is you place. Phyllis was shocked and crestfallen  and said"there must be some mistake-I can't live here". The Angel said apologetically , "well, with the material you sent up to us this is the best we could do".

Jesus lets the weeds grow around us and in us. Keeping the commandments is necessary to meet God's criteria of a holy life.To love God and our neighbor fulfills the law and the prophets. Mankind needs help with those two indispensable commandments. The Holy Trinity , the Angels and the saints will help us win the race but we must make the effort.