{"id":2938,"date":"2014-07-20T20:03:20","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T03:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=2938"},"modified":"2016-10-10T18:17:24","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T01:17:24","slug":"stinkweeds-and-thistles-homily-for-the-sixteenth-sunday-in-ordinary-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/stinkweeds-and-thistles-homily-for-the-sixteenth-sunday-in-ordinary-time","title":{"rendered":"Stinkweeds and Thistles: Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Thistle

Thistle in Wheat<\/p><\/div>\n

Today we\u2019re asked to use our imaginations
\nand picture ourselves as wheat.
\n\u201cThe kingdom of heaven
\nmay be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.\u201d
\nImagine us first as good seed, held in the hand of the Farmer.
\nAs he runs us through his fingers,
\nhe feels the potential for growth we carry within us.<\/p>\n

Just at the right time of the year,
\nhe carries us into the field,
\nthen scoops us up with his hands
\nand scatters us onto the ground.<\/p>\n

We lay there helpless, unable to move.
\nThe sun comes up, the sun goes down.
\nIt rains, and we soak in the cool, clear water.
\nSoon roots emerge, and we draw nutrients into ourselves.
\nWe\u2019ve sprouted, and we\u2019re getting taller each day.
\nWe\u2019re doing exactly what wheat is supposed to do:
\nWe\u2019re basking in the sun, drinking in water, growing up toward the sky.
\nWe\u2019re growing.<\/p>\n

This is what it means to be the Farmer\u2019s good seed,
\nto be children of the kingdom.<\/p>\n

The single defining characteristic of the kingdom of heaven
\nthat we can see clearly in today\u2019s three parables
\nis growth.<\/p>\n

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed.
\nThe kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.
\nThe kingdom of heaven is like yeast that raises the whole loaf of bread.<\/p>\n

In each parable,
\ngrowth is happening.
\nLove is always about growth, about fruitfulness.<\/p>\n

Our vocation in this life is to grow,
\nto reach up to the sun.
\nJesus came and planted divine life in each of us,
\nand like the field of wheat
\nwe take in water\u2014the water of grace at baptism.
\nWe take in nourishment\u2014the nourishment of the Eucharist.
\nWe absorb the rays of the sun\u2014the Son of God.<\/p>\n

But then one night,
\nwhile everyone is sleeping,
\nthe Farmer\u2019s enemy sneaks into the field and sows weeds.<\/p>\n

Soon stinkweed and thistle begin to grow,
\nand it becomes harder to get to the water,
\nand the nutrients, and the sunlight.<\/p>\n

Jesus says the weeds
\nare all those who cause others to sin
\nand all evildoers.<\/p>\n

Maybe we know a few stinkweeds or thistles,
\nand we\u2019d like to pull them up and toss them away.<\/p>\n

Maybe we\u2019d like to get them out of our lives,
\nget rid of them, cast them aside.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not how the kingdom of heaven works.
\n\u201cNo,\u201d the Farmer says,
\n\u201cif you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.\u201d
\n\u201cLet them grow together until harvest,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In other words,
\nwe risk losing our lives
\nif the stinkweeds and thistles are simply pulled up and cast aside.<\/p>\n

Our lives are intimately bound up with everyone we meet,
\nstinkweed or not.
\nWhat happens to one affects us all.
\nWho is it that we would cast away?
\nAnd who are we to recognize what\u2019s a weed and what\u2019s wheat?<\/p>\n

Because the truth is, there\u2019s a little stinkweed in each of us,
\na little thistle, isn\u2019t there?
\nSo let\u2019s not be so hasty to yank up the weeds, you know?<\/p>\n

Jesus was patient and merciful with the weeds in his life.<\/p>\n

He came across plenty of thistles in the wheat field of his ministry:
\nthe woman caught in adultery,
\nZacchaeus the tax collector,
\nthe disciples who abandoned him in his darkest hour,
\nthe centurions who executed him.<\/p>\n

Jesus didn\u2019t yank them up from the ground.
\nHe showed patience and mercy:
\n\u201cGo and sin no more.\u201d
\n\u201cFather forgive them, they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

His ministry was not harvest time.
\nIt wasn\u2019t the time for weeding,
\nit was a time for sowing and growing.<\/p>\n

Our<\/em> time is not a time for weeding.
\nOur<\/em> time is a time for sowing and growing.
\nThe harvest will come some day,
\nbut not today.<\/p>\n

If the Farmer\u2019s not worried about the weeds
\nthen we don\u2019t need to worry about them either.<\/p>\n

The Farmer has chosen to leave the weeds among the wheat,
\nknowing that we\u2019re strong enough to withstand them.
\nThey won\u2019t overshadow us,
\nthey won\u2019t strangle us,
\nthey won\u2019t steal our nourishment.<\/p>\n

Yes, we have to struggle now for our water,
\nwe have to fight for sunlight and nutrients.
\nWe have to deal with stinkweeds and thistles.<\/p>\n

But a miraculous thing happens when we stop worrying about the weeds
\nand instead focus on the wheat.<\/p>\n

When we concentrate on growing in faith, hope, and love,
\nwhen we spend our time drinking in the waters of grace,
\nabsorbing the light of Christ,
\nfeeding on the nourishment of the Eucharist,
\nthen we have an effect on the stinkweeds and the thistles.<\/p>\n

If, instead of cutting them down to be burned in the fiery furnace,
\nwe continue to live with them and beside them,
\nthen they have the opportunity to become wheat.<\/p>\n

I have been a stinkweed and a thistle myself
\nmore than once in my life.
\nIt\u2019s only because of the patience of significant people in my life
\nand the grace of God
\nthat I find myself here in this wheat field now
\nstriving to reach the sun.<\/p>\n

How many of us have been stinkweeds and thistles to others,
\nonly to have been met with patience, mercy,
\nand forgiveness?<\/p>\n

On any given Sunday, this church is filled with both weeds and wheat,
\nentangled and entwined together.<\/p>\n

And our vocation is not to root out the weeds and cast them aside,
\nbut to grow right beside them.<\/p>\n

To know Jesus more and more through daily reading of Scripture
\nand through personal prayer.
\nTo serve Jesus more and more
\nby being a blessing to the people in our lives:
\nour families, our coworkers, our neighbors,
\nthe poor and outcast,
\nand especially the stinkweeds and thistles.<\/p>\n

This is what it means to be a child of the kingdom,
\nthis is what it means to be wheat and not weeds:
\nto continually work at growing in intimacy with God,
\nto work every day at lifting our souls up and up and up,
\nlike wheat.<\/p>\n

Anyone who\u2019s ever received an email from me has seen at the bottom
\nmy signature, which includes a quote
\nby a woman named Elisabeth Leseur.<\/p>\n

The quote goes like this:
\n\u201cEvery soul that uplifts itself uplifts the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is another way of describing what it means
\nto live as wheat among the weeds.
\nIt means that if we can forget about the thistles
\nand concentrate on growing up to God
\nthen we can help others become wheat.<\/p>\n

And if anyone knew what that was like, it was Elisabeth Leseur.
\nElisabeth lived around the turn of the last century,
\nand was married to Dr. Felix Leseur, a determined atheist.
\nIn fact, he was the editor of an anti-Catholic newspaper
\nand constantly worked at trying to shake Elisabeth\u2019s faith.<\/p>\n

You can imagine the tension that caused in their marriage.<\/p>\n

But rather than casting off this thistle she had married,
\nElisabeth used his efforts as motivation
\nto study and deepen her faith.
\nShe came to believe that her mission in life
\nwas the salvation of her husband\u2019s soul.
\nAt one point she even told Felix that she firmly believed
\nthat after her death he would become a priest.<\/p>\n

He laughed at her, of course.
\nBut two years later, as she was dying of breast cancer,
\nhe became increasingly impressed by her courage and composure,
\nand he began to realize that she drew this strength from her faith.<\/p>\n

After she died in 1914,
\nFelix was overcome to discover a note in Elisabeth\u2019s spiritual diary
\nin which she offered her sufferings and her life for his conversion.
\nHe went on to publish her spiritual writings,
\nand in 1923 he was ordained a Dominican priest.<\/p>\n

Elisabeth lived as wheat among the weeds.
\nHer tiny mustard seed became the largest of the plants.
\nShe was the yeast that leavened her little corner of the world.
\nShe didn\u2019t worry about the stinkweeds or thistles in her life.
\nElisabeth concentrated on lifting up her soul.<\/p>\n

We, too, are called to have patience and mercy
\nwith the stinkweeds and thistles.
\nEspecially because, at different times, they are us.
\nThe kingdom of heaven is about growth,
\nnot about weeding out.
\nAnd \u201cEvery soul that uplifts itself uplifts the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: Information about Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur was adapted from a profile by Robert Ellsburg in the May 2012 issue of Give Us This Day<\/em><\/a>.<\/h5>\n
http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/stpeter\/SP-2014-07-20-435.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: RSS<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we\u2019re asked to use our imaginations and picture ourselves as wheat. \u201cThe kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.\u201d Imagine us first as good seed, held in the hand of the Farmer. As he runs us through his fingers, he feels the potential for growth we carry within us. Just at the right time of the year, he carries us into the field, then scoops us up with his hands and scatters us onto the ground. We lay...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[506,471,508,507],"class_list":["post-2938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-elisabeth-leseur","tag-gospel-of-matthew","tag-weeds","tag-wheat"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/thistle_in_wheat.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-Lo","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2938"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2943,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938\/revisions\/2943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}