HOMILIES

Dear Audience,
For better understanding of the spiritual message behind this homily I kindly remind you to first read and contemplate the biblical texts before reading or listening to my preaching - a human reflection on the Word of God!

Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)

Jul 19, 2026

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First Reading

A reading from the Book of Wisdom (12:13, 16-19)

There is no god, besides you, who have the care of all, that you need to show you have not unjustly condemned. For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.

For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.

But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms of David (86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16)

(R) Lord, you are good and forgiving.

You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon you. Hearken, O Lord, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my pleading. (R)

All the nations you have made shall come and worship you, O Lord, and glorify you name. For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds; you alone are God. (R)

You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity. Turn toward me, and have pity on me; give your strength to your servant. (R)

Second Reading

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (8:26-27)

Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches the hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will.

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Gospel

A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew (13:24-43)

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, "Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?" He answered, "An enemy has done this." His slaves said to him, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" He replied, "No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. 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.""

He proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and well in its branches."

He spoke to them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of what flour until the whole batch was leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfil what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has laid hidden from the foundation of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

(P) The Gospel of the Lord.
(R) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily

During His earthly ministry, when Jesus spoke in parables His listeners couldn't understand whom they were directed at. Even Jesus' closest followers were baffled by the parables, and the Gospels record many instances where they had to pull Jesus aside in private to ask for the meaning behind His teaching. One such occasion is recounted in today's gospel from Matthew (13:24-43). While Jesus told three parables to the crowds - The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, The Mustard Seed and The Yeast - later in the house, Jesus only explained the first one to the disciples in private because the disciples specifically asked, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

Through these parables Jesus illustrates the "Kingdom of God" or the "Kingdom of Heaven", which was the central message of His earthly ministry, and which He came to decisively inaugurate. Luke records Jesus in His own words stating His purpose: "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, because that is why I was sent", Luke (4:43). The "Kingdom of God" or the "Kingdom of Heaven" does not refer to a geographical location or physical territory, but a spiritual reality experienced wherever people willingly align their hearts to God's teachings and actively and intentionally pursue truth, love, justice, and peace.

Jesus described the Kingdom of God through a rich variety of methods, like direct sermons, teachings, miracles, healings, personal encounters, and parables. In last week's gospel, when Jesus transitioned from direct preaching (like the call to repentance (Matthew 4:17), the Beatitudes (5:3-12), the Lord's prayer (6:5-34), the call to find rest in Him (11:28-30) and so on) to using parables, the disciples asked Him why He was suddenly speaking in parables to the crowds. Jesus explained that this shift served a dual purpose: to reveal the "secrets of the kingdom" to those who, like His disciples, approached God with humility, a childlike trust, and a genuine desire to know Him, while hiding them from those who, like the religious leaders of the day, were arrogant, self-reliant, or indifferent to Jesus' teachings outright, Matthew (13:10-17).

Let's go back to today's gospel. In the first parable, Jesus told the crowds that a landowner had sowed good wheat seeds in his field. A few days later some servants noticed weeds growing alongside the wheat and asked the farmer since he had sowed only good seeds how was it that the weeds appeared. The owner replied that an enemy secretly sowed them to ruin the crop and steal his harvest. Overcome with anxiety and confusion, the servants immediately wanted to pull up the weeds. But the owner wisely refused, explaining that because the roots of the young weeds and the wheat were intertwined, pulling up the weeds early would have uprooted and destroyed the young, valuable wheat along with them. Instead, he ordered them to let both grow together until harvest time, when they could be easily separated and moreover, he reminded them that separating the weeds from the wheat would be done by the harvesters who would first collect the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and then they would gather the wheat and safely store it in the barn, Matthew (13:24-30).

Later, when the disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable, He gave an allegorical interpretation, meaning He broke down the story so that every element represented a specific spiritual reality. He compared the field to the world; the owner or sower of the good seeds to the Son of Man, that is, Jesus Himself; the enemy or sower of the weeds to the devil; the good seeds to the people of the kingdom or true believers; the weeds to the children of the evil one or unbelievers or evildoers; the harvest to the end of the age; and the harvesters to the angels. However, Jesus did not assign a specific identity to the servants who asked if they should pull up the weeds. It is believed that the servants represented His disciples or believers who were concerned about the presence of evil but were instructed not to prematurely judge others. Instead, they should exercise tolerance and patience allowing both groups to grow together until angels - the designated harvesters - would separate them at the end of the age, Matthew (13:36-41).

Jesus concluded His explanation of the Wheat and the Weeds parable with a stark contrast. He stated that the wicked, (the evildoers and those who cause sin) will be separated from God's presence and cast into a "blazing furnace" where there will be intense sorrow and anguish. By contrast, the righteous will be in God's presence and experience ultimate glory and peace, shining "like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father". Jesus ended His teaching by saying, "Whoever has ears ought to hear", Matthew (13:43). Here, Jesus was not referring to physical hearing, but spiritual understanding and openness to God's truth. While everyone in the crowd could physically hear His voice, not everyone possessed "ears to hear". They lacked the spiritual desire and willingness to accept the truth. Whereas the disciples actively sought out Jesus in private to understand the deeper meaning of His parables. Therefore, He urged them to pay utmost attention to the truths of the Kingdom of God and apply them to their lives.

In between the Parable of the Weeds and its interpretation, Jesus delivered two shorter and simpler parables to the crowds. The first one was about a mustard seed that is smaller than many other seeds, but when it grows, it grows into a large plant or shrub, big enough for birds to perch in its branches. Jesus compared this illustration to the Kingdom of God that starts with remarkably small, humble beginnings - like the tiny seed - but would eventually grow into a massive, unstoppable reality that offers shelter and refuge to all people. The deeper theological meaning is that although Jesus' movement to establish God's reign on earth began with an incredibly small, and seemingly insignificant, group of followers, it eventually would grow into a worldwide movement that transforms individual lives and societies through His teachings, Matthew (13:31-32).

The second parable was very similar. It was about a small amount of yeast mixed into a massive batch of flour. Although the yeast becomes invisible to the naked eye, it ferments and alters the very nature of the dough from within to grow slowly and steadily into a large batch of bread. In the same way, Jesus pointed out that the Kingdom of God, often beginning silently and invisibly in the quiet hidden spaces of human hearts, will gradually increase and bring about a complete transformation in the world, Matthew (13:33)

What is the message for us?

The struggle to understand the coexistence of good and evil has indeed been a fundamental human question since the dawn of history. While unbelievers might use the existence of evil to reject God altogether, we believers often grapple with the conflict between God's goodness and our current circumstances. We ask, "If God is good, where does evil come from? Why does God allow evil to flourish? Why doesn't God destroy evil immediately? Will evil ultimately win or go unpunished?" and so on. Through today's gospel, Jesus provides comforting and challenging answers to our questions:

Jesus reveals that God initiates and creates only what is good. Evil is entirely the work of the devil and is never God's intent. However, God allows both good and evil to coexist until the day of final judgment, when following the destruction of sin, suffering, and evil, God will permanently establish His eternal, universal kingdom through Him.
In God's kingdom, which Jesus has already initiated on earth, there are and will always be a mixture of both righteous children of God and wicked children of the devil. Because while Jesus continues to draw millions of authentic followers into God's Kingdom, the devil stealthily sows destructive elements like doubt, lies, false doctrines, temptations and behaviours that are contrary to Gods' law, and which sows division, discord, gossip, unforgiveness etc. to hinder this growth and pull God's children away from the kingdom. These destructive elements do not always come from the outside; they are often deeply integrated into our daily lives, families, communities, and workplaces. So, Jesus urges us to remain spiritually vigilant without becoming paranoid.
God is not ignoring evil, nor has He lost control. Rather, He intentionally allows both good and evil to coexist. So, we should not be surprised that falsehoods, unrighteousness, and counterfeit faith exist alongside truth, goodness, and genuine faith. While it is essential to recognize evil or corrupting influences, we should not rush to judge or destroy others. Because Jesus warns us that due to our limited human judgment, while trying to remove the evil, we might inadvertently harm the good and the innocent. Instead, we must be patient and trust in God's perfect timing because only He has the perfect wisdom and vision to judge the human heart. By allowing good and evil to exist together, God protects the faithful from collateral damage and graciously grants the unrighteous time to repent.

Today's first reading from the Book of Wisdom (12:13, 16-19) beautifully illustrates the perfect harmony between God's absolute power and unfailing mercy. It highlights that God's true might is not displayed through harshness or immediate destruction, but rather through gentleness, patience, and the continuous offering of repentance for sinners. Moreover, by being merciful to the unfaithful, God teaches those who are righteous to be kind and forgiving to their fellow human beings.
Jesus promises that on the Day of Judgment, He will send His angels to gather all those who oppose Him, promote sin, and do evil, and sentence them to eternal punishment, while gathering the righteous to be rewarded with eternal life. So, instead of judging or trying to eradicate evildoers, we must focus on nurturing our own faith, praying for the conversion of sinners, spreading the Gospel, and advancing the kingdom of God that is already established amidst us, in our families and communities. We must commit ourselves to doing what is right and good, trusting that even our quietest, smallest, invisible daily choices, efforts, and actions, like a simple prayer, a kind word, a gesture of encouragement, an act of forgiveness or generosity will eventually multiply, bring hope, transform hearts, and create ripple effects in our families, communities and the world.
The Kingdom of God works and expands fundamentally through God's grace. Rather than relying on human effort, the Church, society, and individuals all depend on this unmerited divine favour to transform hearts, build true community, and extend love. Therefore, today and everyday let us pray the beautiful prayer attributed to St Francis of Assisi: Lord, Make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. Where there is discord, harmony. Where there is error, truth. Where there is wrong, the spirit of forgiveness.

(P) Amen.

God Bless You!

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