SPIRITUAL ANTIVIRUS!
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Wisdom 12:13-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43
Two men were sitting behind two nuns at a basketball game. They were irritated at the presence of the sisters and complained about not being able to see over the sisters’ head covering. One of them said loudly, "I am going to Phoenix. Only 15% of the people there are Catholics."
The other said, "I am going to Dallas. Only 5% are Catholics."
One of the nuns turned around and said sweetly, "Why don’t you go to hell - there is no Catholics there!"
Growing Together
It is easy for us to lose our patience when something does not happen according to the way we expect. We do not have enough patience with the shortcomings of others. We do not have enough patience with those who bother us. We do not have enough patience with our children when they misbehave. Last Monday, I went to the restroom at the Westside of the church and saw wet toilet paper spreading everywhere, on the wall as well as on the floor. I felt mad and disappointed. I could not imagine how should I react if I saw the person who did it. When the ladies of the altar society cleaned the church on Monday and found chewing gum stuck underneath the benches, diapers left under the pews, food crumbs spilled on the benches, they were disappointed. They have asked me to remind people that this is the house of the Lord. We need to show respect and keep it clean.
When things do not happen the way we plan or expect, we are disappointed or mad. We want the problem to go away. We do not have enough patience with things that are evil or with "evil people." We do not have enough patience with our enemies. After the double suicide bombings in Tel Aviv last Wednesday and a West bank bus ambush that killed 14 peoples, Israel army is more determined to hunt down the radical Palestinians.
In the effort to fight against terrorism, the United States Congress proposes 28.9-billion counterterorism bill. And our government has spent a lot of tax money to build jails and prison cells to keep the criminals away from good people. We can go on to name a long list of ways to fight against evil in the world, but evil continue to strike us. We cannot get rid of evil in the world. We neither know the origin of evil nor the end of it. All we know is that evil is a reality in our world, a reality to be resisted and rejected. We want to get rid of evil in the world just like the servants of the householder wanted to propose to their master, "Do you want us to go to pull them up?"
But the householder replied, "Let them grow together until harvest." The householder did not want his servants to mistakenly pulling the wheat with the weeds. He ordered them to wait. This is God’s personality. God is patient. There are wheat and weeds in the Church and in the world. The weeds cannot turn out to become wheat, but bad people still have chance to change and become good. Criminals still have chance to start over again. Sinners still have chance to become saints. God is waiting for us to change from weeds to wheat, from evil to good, from sinners to saints.
Spiritual Antivirus
Secondly, to protect our computers, we need to have Norton Antivirus or McAffee programs. So to keep the devil from invading our lives, we also need to have spiritual antivirus device. Our spiritual antivirus device is not to fall asleep, but be awake and on guard that the devil cannot enter into our lives and sow the seed of weeds. Jesus said the devil could sow the seed of weeds only because everyone was asleep. While we are asleep to moral and spiritual values, the dirty work is done. We, people in America, were so asleep in our freedom, prosperity and wealth that the terrorists could enter and strike us with surprise. Last week someone was asleep to let an evil person kidnapping Sarmantha Runnion in California, sexually abused her and then murdered her. We need to stay awake and keep our eyes on our children so the weed of drug and alcohol cannot enter our lives. We need to stay awake so the weed of adultery or infidelity cannot enter into our marriages. We need to stay awake so that the weed of cheating or lying cannot enter our daily activities. No matter who we are, if we were asleep, weeds of all kind of evils will enter our lives and cause pain and trouble. Look at Noelle Bush, even she is the daughter of the Governor of Florida and the niece of President George W. Bush, her life has been invaded by the weed of drug. It is destroying her life and embarrassing her family.
A Model
This story is told about Leonardo da Vinci, when he was painting "the Lord Supper." He chose an attractive young man called Pietri Bandinelli to be his model for Jesus in the painting.
The complete work took several years to finish. The final character was Judas, and Leonardo went into the slums, and all of the "dives" in down looking for someone who would serve as a model for Judas. He was looking for someone who would clearly stand out as such in any gathering.
He found the perfect man, one who was depraved and vicious looking. Later as he was painting, Leonardo sensed there was something familiar about the man, and he asked him if they had ever met before.
"Yes, we have," replied the man, "but much has happened in my life since then." He said his name was Bandinelli, that it was he who was the model for Jesus some time before.
Fr. John Tran Kha, Houston, TX
