2.6 Response
STAGE 2: Awareness of Self
MY WORK
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
RESPONSE
Aim: To realise that, often, our response in life accommodates both works of light and works of darkness. We need patience, prayer and discernment.
Readings
Weeds among the wheat (Mt 13:24-30): Jesus put before the crowd this parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this’. The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’”.
Spoiled actions (TD 78): “Our best actions are usually tainted and spoiled by the evil that is rooted in us. When pure, clear water is poured into a foul-smelling jug, or wine into an unwashed cask that previously contained another wine, the clear water and the good wine are tainted and readily acquire an unpleasant odour. In the same way when God pours into our soul, infected by original and actual sin, the heavenly waters of his grace or the delicious wines of his love, his gifts are usually spoiled and tainted by the evil sediment left in us by sin”.
Comment
We have to accept the evidence: the parable of the weeds and the wheat tells us that we are slow-learners. We know that Jesus has brought us light, but still every day, in our work, we are faced with the coexistence of light and darkness. We even notice that, often, in our actions evil is louder than good. Montfort points this out very clearly: “Our best actions are usually tainted and spoiled by the evil that is rooted in us”.
Worse than evil is getting used to it, making it part of our daily living, pretending to ignore it, thinking that, at the end of the day, the best choice between light and darkness is living in a hazy state. Or even worse is playing Taliban, taking the place of God, becoming castigators and wanting at all costs to put things back in order, clean up and pull out the weeds. We are all tempted to take drastic sides.
But the Lord is asking for patience. He wants us to let “wheat and weeds grow together until the harvest time”. It doesn’t mean to play passive. It means to be “patient”, to feel and suffer the contradiction, to be aware of the coexistence of light and darkness in us, to pray and seek advice from the Word of God and from wise people, until we can discern, strengthen and affirm the quality of life and work that will make the evil spirit give up and fall apart.
Personal Reflection and Sharing
How have I responded to the coexistence of light and darkness in my working life? I give some examples.
In the context, how has the process of “patience” taken place in me? (Note: “patience” is the ensemble of feeling, suffering, seeking help, discerning, affirming, etc.).
[2-6] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER