July 23 2023: Bible Verse of the Day – Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time – Parable of the Wheat and Tares (Weeds) – Matthew 13:24-43
24Jesus proposed a -Parable of the Wheat and Tares (Weeds)- to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field…
Matthew 13:24-43
29 …He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the tares you might uproot the wheat along with them.
30 Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Catholic Readings For Today
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year 1
Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year 2
Today’s Bible Verse of the Day Reflections
As we begin this reflection, let us go back to the times of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah. God punished all the people together, for the sins committed in their towns, using water and fire.
During Noah’s time, God promised man that He will never destroy the world again with water, maybe because innocent people perished and could have repented afterwards. We do not know but I am just thinking aloud.
This promise that God gave us is well manifested in this parable of the wheat and tares. Jesus is very cautious about destroying sinners right now (while they still have a chance to repent), because the destruction may also affect the repentant sinners who have returned to the Lord’s fold and are doing the Lord’s will.
In this parable, Jesus tells us that we will not be condemned because of other sinners around us. We will be condemned alone for the sins we have committed ourselves.
Everybody will carry his/her own cross on the last day. This is why Jesus tells us that if we have any cross or burden right now, we should take it to Him and He will offload it from us.
These burdens that we carry are in the form of sins and transgressions against God and our fellow neighbours.
Let this parable of the wheat and weeds be a constant reminder to us that we will have nobody to blame on the last day if we will be condemned for not repenting our sins and doing the will of God.
Let us choose the narrow path of piety, self-sacrifice, humility, and meekness in order to serve our God according to His Holy Will.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, give us the strength and courage to always follow you and to trust only in you. Help us to repent our sins so that on the last day we will be taken to your barn like wheat and escape burning and gnashing our teeth in the fiery Gehennah. Amen
Bible Verse of the Day in Pictures
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