Dear friends,
One of the most expected statements we usually like to hear is that “our God is Merciful;” and that who he is indeed. Yet, time and again this leads us to sometimes take God for granted. In today’s readings, we are reminded that God’s patience is to be understood as a second chance he gives to each one of us. For he says, “I do not take pleasure at the death of a sinner. I want him/her to repent and to live.”
In our every day’s life, we experience the fear of the householder’s servants. In front of the evil experience in our daily life, we wonder whether evil is going to prevail upon good, and we want God to severe or to uproot it, say to destroy it immediately. “Lord, why do not you destroy this evil surrounding us?” we ask. But God’s patience is intrinsically connected with his prudence. He says, “if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.” Here, we are given not only the lesson about patience, but also the invitation to leave everything in the hands of the Lord and let him take care of everything situation. For he knows more than we do the best thing to happen and to do.
This lesson about patience is a call to each and all of us on our journey to holiness. The parables of the yeast and of the mustard seed are a demonstration of our own growth journey. Although we want to love and serve the Lord, we do not become perfect overnight. We must be patient with ourselves for growth takes much longer than we want it to at times. Once the seed is sown, it dies and takes time to grow to a large bush. During this process there are a great deal of challenges, heat, drought, hurricane, people step on it, and so on. We likewise are meant to experience all those challenges on our discipleship path. Reliance and trust in God will keep us growing in spite of all the difficulties of our life.
Dear friends, today’s gospel reading is an eye opener to all of us, including myself. Let me share this with you today. I have been struggling with the slow transformation that is happening in our parish as we embark on this journey of discipleship. We have our vision, our mission statement, our strategies and our discipleship path. Over and over again, I long to see that extraordinary transformation; yet I seems to delay. Today, I am reminded, like all of us, that I should give time to God and let him proceed at his pace. The only I need to understand is to keep doing the best we can to pray and to do what God wants. This is the key to discovering the hands of God at work within me and in our parish family. You and I are called to embrace to this invitation to be patient and never give up because fulfillment belongs to God and it is his work through the Holy Spirit. We need to listen to Saint Paul as he invites us to learn to pray as we ought to. It is only when we surrender to the God’s will on this discipleship path that we will see the fruits of his grace and blessings as we let the Holy Spirit help us in our prayers by interceding for us.
This is what we do today as we gather here to celebrate the holy Mass. For it is the most powerful prayer as we join together in prayer. Let us therefore implore the Lord to grant us patience and prudence in the fulfillment of our mission as disciples. And let us continue to pray for one another and for our parish family.
Fr. Emery