A Homily for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

+ “An enemy has done this.”—thus the master explained to his servants how it came about that, amongst the good seed sewn in his field pernicious weeds grew up and seemingly flourished, threatening the crop planted by the master himself.

In teaching this parable to his disciples Our Lord makes two profoundly important points, which teaching the Sacred Liturgy of the Church faithfully transmits to each of us this morning.

The first of these is that we are subject to subtle (and sometimes less than subtle) subterfuge by real enemies. There exist those who, by any means possible, seek to weaken if not choke the growth of all that is good, true and beautiful—of all that is of God—in this world and indeed in the hearts, minds and souls of each one of us. Weeds that serve no purpose other than to sap the nutrients that could otherwise fuel growth that bears a good harvest, and whose pugnacity can overtake and even kill that which grows beside it exist.

We are fools to deny this. The reality of good and of evil is something which we must confront in this life—in ourselves as well as in others. The devil exists and is intent on the ruination of souls. He sews the weeds of sin and vice in us in the hope that they will take root and overtake the life of God sewn in our very being at our Baptism. So too, there are those whom the devil’s empty promises have conquered and who are his agents in sewing falsehood and discord throughout the world and, as St Augustine reminded us at matins this morning, even within the Church herself. Heretics and evildoers become his instruments, perpetuating the darkness, discord and division in which sin thrives where otherwise the crop of grace should be calmly growing to fruitful maturity in God’s light and air.

If we do not recognise this it may be that we are already trapped—that we have been seduced by the vanities and promises of worldly wealth and power that the devil even proffered to Our Lord Himself. (cf. Mt 4:8) If this is the case, let the Gospel shine its light anew upon us! Let us reject the contamination wrought by the devil’s falsehoods and, by the grace of the Sacrament of Confession, renew the growth of faith, hope and charity in our souls. Real enemies exist. Let us confound them by turning ever more fervently to the sources of true life and of grace.

Yet even in so doing we know only too well the reality of which this morning’s Holy Gospel speaks: that in this world the good and the bad are mixed together side by side, be it in secular society, in parishes, or even in monasteries and families and dioceses and hierarchies. The suffering this can bring about—even the real danger and harm it can occasion—not infrequently leads us to question and complain: Why does God permit this? Why does he not act to remove this person or that priest, this prelate or that imposter, who perpetrates such evil?

The Gospel teaches us that, indeed, in the end justice shall be meted out, that those who do evil shall be excluded from the Lord’s barn and be burned. But this can be of little comfort when one must live and work with, or under the authority of, someone who may be rightly described as being “not of God.”

It is precisely here that we find the second profound teaching of this morning’s Gospel—that we must be patient. Indeed, that we must be patient as God is patient. Hasty judgment can cause unnecessary damage. Yes, there is a final judgment, and its consequences shall be terrible for those who continue freely to choose to reject God’s law, but that judgment is at the right time, not now. During our lifetime, God is patient with us.

Indeed, God’s patience with mankind is something that resounds throughout the Old and New Testament Scriptures, calling us again and again to repentance and to the conversion of our lives to live ever more fruitfully according to His Covenant. The prophets cry out this message at the top of their voices. And God sends His Only Son to do the same and definitively to seal His Covenant in the blood, in the Blood of the Lamb offered in loving self-sacrifice for our sins.

Furthermore, God’s patience can even permit weeds to become wheat. The worst of the enemies of truth can become its greatest apostles, as St Paul himself can and does testify! (And how beautifully St Paul himself explains how we must live in patience in this world in this morning’s epistle! It deserves our contemplation in the days ahead.)

My brothers and sisters, beset as we may be by enemies from different sides, surrounded as we may be by the weeds that flourish seemingly unchecked in the Church and in the world, let us turn anew today to the source of life, of light and of grace here, at His altar. For sinking our roots ever more deeply in the rich soil of His grace we shall be able both partake in His Providential patience and to grow and bear the fruit that He rightly expects of each one of us.+