GOD’S SAVING
PATIENCE
(See Mt 13:24-30)
Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
We are living in a society where people always find
themselves too busy to waste their time without being paid for. The saying “time is gold” becomes more exact
than ever.
Consequently, people do not want to wait simply because they
hate spending their time doing nothing. Patience,
therefore, almost disappears from everyday’s vocabulary.
The workers found weeds sown along with wheat in the
field. They reported the happening to
the master and asked him whether he wanted them to uproot the weeds. The answer was “No”. Why “No”?
“Because”, he said, “you may also uproot the wheat together with the
weeds.” “So, what are you to deal with
the problem?” “My solution is this: we
wait until the harvest comes. It will be then much easier for us to
distinguish the wheat from the weeds, and as a result of this, we are able to
treat them in a proper and just way.”
The Gospel message could in no way be more timely and
accurate considering all that we witness in our today’s society.
We see good guys and bad ones live, talk, and walk all along. They eat the same food, breath the same air,
and speak the same human language.
However, they are not totally identical.
The differences between them can be recognized as follows:
The good guys work hard for the happiness of all fellow
humans. The bad ones work only for their
personal interest. Sometimes the good
guys seem to be uncomfortable because the bad ones grow bigger and bigger in
number, and more and more aggressive.
We see in shocking pain Malaysian flight MH 17 shot down by
terrorists in Ukraine just three days ago.
We see in paralyzing fear religious intolerance by the ISIS
in Iraq and Syria.
We see in unquenchable anger violations of justice and peace
by Communist China in the East Sea.
The good guys keep their lives in the path of reason,
conscience, and God’s Commandments. The
bad ones just rely on the rule of their muscle, and the reason of their guns.
When we are about to run out of our patience, we cannot but
react the way the workers in the Gospel did.
“O my Lord”, we more than once say in moments of anger and hatred, “why
do you not wipe out those dangerous viruses from the body of this world?” But seldom do we get any answer. When it happens that we could receive one,
this must be: “Be patient, wait for the due time of God’s plan.”
While waiting in trust in God’s merciful love and saving
power we learn the following:
One, He is the Master, we are just servants. We are encouraged to present our proposals
and initiatives to Him but let Him have the last say, trusting that He is in
full control of the world and people dwelling in it.
Two, we are assigned by the Master of history to sow into the
field of this world more good seeds which are works of love, compassion,
forgiveness, respect for human dignity, truth, justice, and peace. We are told by Him sent us into this
community of human persons to be through good examples the light of the world,
and salt of the earth.
Three, never and by no means will we lend our names and faces
to the forces of evil. Let us stop now
scandalous practices such as littering and spitting in public places, violating
traffic law, offering and receiving envelops, telling lies because of fear or
immoral interests, playing blind and deaf in the face of injustices and violations
of human rights.
Of course we will be ridiculed, rejected, persecuted, and
even killed, by the bad guys. Yet only
by being suffered for the sake of God’s great cause, can we become like yeast
mixed with the dough of this society and turn it into delicious and nourishing
bread for all people.
Four, we come to know God’s saving patience thanks to which
we are the first to survive Divine Justice and deserve Divine Mercy, as does
verse 3 of Psalm 130 read: “If you, Lord, mark our sins, Lord, who can stand?”
By so doing, we obey the command of Our Lord in Matthew 5:48
that says “Be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Master shows His saving patience in order for all sinners
to repent and to be worthy of His Kingdom.
