Homily 16th Sunday OT A
Franklin Fong, OFM
The central theme in our readings today are all about our relationship with God and how we are to live our lives in this relationship.
The first reading from the book of Wisdom is about God’s way of showing justice to us. Psalm 86 talks about God’s mercy and love. The second reading from Romans is about God’s solidarity with us through the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of Matthew verses are about God’s patience with us over our entire lifetime.
We can choose to trust in the meaningfulness of our lives while we grow through all that happens in a lifetime. As the first reading assures us, God cares for each one of us and gives us ground for hope. Clearly the spirit of God helps us when we are in times of weakness and moves us to pray in trusting faith. We can always achieve the purpose of life: heroism in leading lives of faith, hope and love.
Jesus does not offer an explanation of the mystery of evil. Instead, Jesus takes the occasion to admonish us to wait patiently for the time of judgement, or the victory of good over evil. In the meantime we can choose to sow the good seeds of wheat and await the harvest. Jesus reminds us that the wheat seeds will be growing up with weed seeds as well. But God will harvest the weeds to be burned, in Hell! And the wheat harvest will collected for eternal life !
Over our lifetime we become so aware that we cannot harmonize the goodness and love of God with the presence of evil, such as forest fire, earthquakes, drought. That learning curve is about coming to understand nature of that evil and to begin the process of preventing or minimizing the effects of that evil. For earthquakes engineers have learned how to design buildings so that they are less likely to be destroyed by an earthquake. For forest fires, we have learned how to care for land so that it is less likely to catch fire. It is in faith that we believe that there is a reason for all that happens in what we experience in our lives.
What we can do is to focus our attention on what is positive in life. We can welcome graced moments of goodness, love and peace. We can be strong in believing in the midst of evil to love God and one another. And of course we can do much to learn how to alleviate suffering and to remove the causes of evil and injustice to happen!
Jesus, the story teller, does not offer an explanation of the mystery of evil. Rather, Jesus takes the occasion to admonish us to await patiently the time of judgement, the victory of good over evil.
In the meantime we can learn how to sow the “good seeds of wheat” and await the harvest.
So to summarize the readings today, recall that the first reading speaks about God’s justice which is tempered with consideration. The Psalm 86 talks about God’s mercy and love. The verses from Romans talks about the role of the Holy Spirit in our prayer life as a sign of God’s solidarity with us. And the Gospel of Matthew verses reveals God’s patience before judging whether a life is good or evil.
So take some time in the coming week to reflect in your life of the ways you have been called to be a witness to God’s love in your daily life.
Remember we are called to be witnesses of God’s love and not judges !
How have you sown the word of God in this past year?
Think back and see if you can recognize the different ways you have sown the word of God in your faith journey.
In recalling each decade of your faith journey, can you now recognize how the Holy Spirit has guided you in building the different ways of witnessing to the Light of Christ in your life?
Brothers and Sisters of the
Chinese Catholic Community of St Leander Parish
that is the Good News for this 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time.
Alleluia Alleluia !
(中文翻譯.原文以英文為準.)
常年期(甲年)第十六主日講道 (07/23/2023)
鄺神父主日證道中譯本
讀經一: 智慧篇 12:13, 16-19
讀經二: 保祿宗徒致羅馬人書 8:26-27
福音: 瑪竇福音 13:24-43
今天我們讀經的中心主題都是關於我們與天主的關係，以及我們在這種關係中應該如何生活。
來自智慧篇的第一段經文講述了天主向我們展示公義的方式。聖詠第86篇談到了天主的慈悲和愛。讀經二羅馬人書的講述了天主通過聖神與我們團結在一起。瑪竇福音的經文談論了天主在我們一生中對我們的耐心。
我們可以選擇去相信，我們一生中成長時的遭遇，都是富有人生意義的。正如第讀經一所保證的那樣，天主關心每個人，並給我們希望的基礎。顯然，聖神在我們軟弱時幫助我們，並激勵我們以信心祈禱。我們永遠可以實現生命的目標：英雄式地憑信、望、愛而活。
耶穌並未對邪惡之謎做出解釋。相反，耶穌借此機會告誡我們耐心等待審判的時刻，或即是正義戰勝邪惡的時刻。與此同時，我們可以選擇撒下好的小麥種子並等待收穫。耶穌提醒我們，小麥種子會與野草的種子一起長大。但是天主會收割野草，並投入地獄中燒毀，而麥子將被收集，獲得永恆的生命！
隨著年齡的增長，我們會意識到，天主的善和愛，跟世間的邪惡並存（如森林火災、地震、乾旱），實難協調。但這個學習過程是讓我們了解邪惡的本質，從而開始防止或減輕邪惡的影響。對於地震來說，工程師已經學會如何設計建築物，使其不太可能被地震摧毀。對於森林火災，我們已經學會如何照顧土地，使其不太可能發生火災。憑著信仰，我們相信生活中每一經歷都有其因。
我們能做的是專注於生活中積極的方面。每當恩寵豐美時的善、愛和和平的時刻，我們歡欣接受。每當邪惡包圍，我們堅定地相信去愛天主和愛彼此。當然，我們可以大有作為，學習如何減輕苦難並根除邪惡和不公義的成因！
耶穌只說故事，並未解釋邪惡之謎。相反，耶穌借此機會告誡我們耐心等待審判的時刻，即善征服邪的時候。
而現在呢，讓我們學會如何撒下那好的小麥種子，並等待收穫。
所以，為了總結今天的讀經，讓我們回憶一下第一段經文提及的天主的公正，這是附帶有考慮的。聖詠第86篇談論了天主的慈悲和愛。羅馬書的經文談論了聖神在我們的祈禱生活中的作用，作為天主與我們團結的標誌。瑪竇福音的經文揭示了天主在判斷一個生命是否善良或邪惡之前的耐心。
所以，在接下來的一周裡，花些時間反思一下你在日常生活中如何被呼召成為天主愛的見證。
請記住，我們被召喚成為天主愛的見證者，而不是裁判！ 你在過去的一年裡如何撒下天主的聖言？ 回想一下，並看看是否能夠認識到你在信仰旅程中如何撒下天主的聖言的不同方式。 在回憶信仰旅程的每一個十年時段時，你是否能夠認識到聖神如何引導你，在不同的見證基礎上建立對基督之光的見證？
聖利安德堂華人天主教團體的弟兄姐妹們，這就是常年期第十六主日帶來的好消息。
亞肋路亞，感謝天主!
