July 23 Sun
God shows his power by condemning sin, especially in those who know better. When God condemns sin, he is just.
Yet God’s power, justice, and mercy are one, so he judges with clemency and governs with compassion. God accepts our repentance.
A similar quality ought to be practiced by men: by his way of dealing with his people Israel, God taught that “those who are just must be kind.”
Since the God who has revealed himself to Israel is the only true God, and since he is both all-powerful and all good, it is inconceivable that he would not become the God of everyone on earth. Thus, “All the nations you have made shall come and worship you, O Lord, and glorify your name.”
This prophecy has come true in Christ and his Church, whose mission is to bring the Gospel to all peoples.
An obstacle, then and now, is the weakness of God’s servants: we sin, and so need God’s “mercy and compassion;” and we are weak, and so need God’s “strength.”
God wants what is best for us. When we want what God wants, or at least “want to want” what God wants, deep down the Holy Spirit expresses it within us. So even though we don’t “know how to pray as we ought,” the Holy Spirit prays for us, asking for what is best.
Yet some men, by their actions, are morally evil, and so, children of the evil one. One day they will suffer in hell in “the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” This fate will be deserved because, in the kingdom of God, they have been those “who cause others to sin and are evildoers.”
This parable provides an answer to why God permits some evil. The Master in the parable says, “if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.”
God does not uproot every evil now because to do so would do greater harm than good. One reason of its existence, is that those who do evil and cause others to sin can repent.
In addition, those who are “good seed” also need time to prove their determination. It could be said that some wheat stalks need some weeds around them.
Ultimately, we are either “weeds” because we do evil and follow the devil (whether or not we know it) or “wheat” because we do good and follow God (whether or not we know it).
We are all good seed planted in God’s garden, but we have a liking for the weeds, and some of us choose to become all weeds. God lets us be what we choose to be, while he helps us be good, if we want that. We are choosing either the most terrible fate or happiness forever.