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."'"
REFLECTION
If you garden it is easy to relate to weeds and how hard it is to eradicate them.
If we are talking post-emergence (after the plant has sprouted) deweeding, then there are some chemical alternatives to burn the weeds away. However these will have an impact in the quality of the crops.
If we were to manually pull the sprouting weeds next to the also sprouting crop, then there really is a risk to pulling both at the same time. I've seen it myself when I tried to pull weeds from my flowerbed. The weed and the flower came together. Putting the flower back in the soil gave it a 50/50 chance of continued growing.
While we are still talking gardening, it is better to pre-treat the soil, so weeds don't grow in the next cycle. Or use mulch or plastic during new crops so these don't sprout. We still need to be vigilant. Many times I'd tried to keep my garden clean. I go away for a couple of days, or have a few days of heavy downpours, and next thing I know the whole yard is covered in weeds alongside plants.
How could we relate this to our souls?
Maybe just like we pre-treat the soil, or use mulch, we should feed our soul with the things that bring us closer to God: the Sacraments, interior life, prayer, sacrifices, etc. That way our "soil" is both fertilized and strengthened to help the seed grow as well as clean of "weeds".
Weeds will still sprout from time to time in our souls. It is our nature. Thankfully God has given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation to return to Him, and clear those weeds that try to invade our souls.
Pray with us the prayer of St. Alphonsus to give our hearts to Jesus, and pray to this saint, the Patron Saint of Confessors, for all priests so they can lead a good saintly life and help us grow in sanctity as well.
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