DON’T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS
INTRODUCTORY RITES
Gather as a family/ community; create an environment appropriate for prayer (dress appropriately - switch off your phones...).
We are conscious that Christ is present not only in the Blessed Sacrament but also in the Scriptures and in our hearts. Even when we are on our own, we remain part of the Body of Christ.
Place lighted candles, a crucifix, and the Bible on a covered table. These remind us of the sacredness of our time of prayer and could help us feel connected with our local worshipping communities.
You may sing or play an appropriate hymn. For instance:
The Sign of the Cross
Greeting and Introductory Words
L: The Lord invites us to the table of his Word: let us bless him for his goodness.
A: Blessed be God forever.
L: We wish to see a world without evil, a Church without faults. We are impatient and intolerant with the Church and the world. But God is patient with the Church and with the world, and with us; he gives us time to change.
Let us thank our Lord for his patience with us and ask him to make us a bit like himself: patient and forgiving because people are neither entirely good nor completely bad.
Penitential Rite
L: For the times, we have been impatient and judgmental with ourselves and others, let us God to pardon us.
Pause
L: Lord Jesus, your encounter with Zacchaeus changed him:
Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, you did not condemn the woman caught in adultery:
Christ, have mercy.
A: Christ, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, you forgave the repentant Peter:
Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins,
and bring us to everlasting life.
A: Amen.
Gloria
Opening Prayer
L: Merciful and patient God,
you let your sun rise on both bad and good
and let the rain fall on the just and the wicked alike.
Thank you for your patience and mercy towards us.
Change our hearts,
and dispose us to accept everyone
with your own untiring love and trust.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
A: Amen.
THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
Readings
The readings are those assigned for the day in the Lectionary.
Preferably use a Bible/ Lectionary for reading.
Reading 1 Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Psalm Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16
Response Lord, you are good and forgiving.
Reading 2 Romans 8:26-27
Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
Gospel Matthew 13:24-43 or (short form) 13:24-30
Reflection on the Readings
Use one of the following ways to reflect on the readings.
Lectio Divina
Imagine you are among the crowds when Jesus “proposed another parable” to them. What are your thoughts and feelings when you hear the parable of the wheat and weeds, of the mustard seed, of the yeast?
Sunday Snippets
A bishop, sailing on an ocean-liner, found that he was sharing a cabin. After he unpacked his bags, he went to the purser to leave his valuables in the ship’s safe. He remarked that he was afraid that his co-passenger might not be trustworthy. The purser smiled, accepted the valuables, and said: “Bishop, I’ll be glad to keep your valuables. Your cabin-mate has just been here and left his valuables for the same reason!”
Jumping to conclusions is an exercise most of us get! We are quick to judge and want to do away with wrong doers, without knowing facts/ circumstances/ motives.
Instant judgment and intolerance are a major problem today. Think of the number of kangaroo courts especially on social media!
Instant judgment and intolerance were attitudes that plagued Israel. They wanted instant punishment for their enemies. Jesus was in conflict with the Pharisees precisely on the issue of intolerance; they condemned all who failed to keep the law.
Today’s liturgy strongly challenges these attitudes.
The first reading asserts that God is patient and merciful; he gives people time to change. He asks his people to be patient towards one another, even their enemies.
The psalmist sees God as a forgiving God, a God of mercy and compassion, who is slow to anger!
God’s patience appears again in the Gospel parable of the wheat and the weeds. The workers want to uproot the weeds. The owner knows that wheat and weeds look identical until they ripen! So, he cautions the workers: “Wait till all the facts are in; don’t jump to conclusions! Else, in your zeal, you might uproot wheat.” It is worth pondering on the landowner’s confidence that the wheat would survive the effect of the weeds and his trust in goodness which outdoes wickedness.
Consider some characters in scripture: Moses, a murderer; David, an adulterer and murderer; Paul, a persecutor; Peter, a coward. What if God had considered them weeds and uprooted them!
There are times when we must make moral decisions. But this parable counsels patience – amid our failures; amid our urge fix things; amid our tendency to act on instant judgments about others.
What are the “weeds” in my life where I need to be patient with myself? With whom do I need to be patient?
God is patient with us. Let us be patient with ourselves, with others, with the world. Let us stop jumping to conclusions.
Questions to Ponder
Reflect on some (or all) of the following questions:
Reading 1: “You taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind.” Do I accept this teaching? Does kindness take a back seat to aggression, selfishness, and quest for control?
Reading 2: Do I call on the Spirit when I am in need? In what ways has the Spirit come to my aid when I have needed help?
Gospel: Can I always tell the weeds from the wheat, or the sinners from the saints? If I am quick to judge might I mistake a saint for a sinner? How patient am I with others and with myself?
The Creed
Prayer of the Faithful
L: Our God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity. To this God, we bring our needs, as we pray: Lord, hear our prayer.
R: For the Church: that we may allow the good seed of the Gospel to take root within us and bring forth a harvest of virtue and manifestations of the kingdom of God, we pray…
R: For our leaders: that they may defer judgment on those things that are unclear and await insight from God to make wise choices, we pray…
R: For peace: that God may bring an end to violence in Manipir, Ukraine, and Sudan, protect the innocent from harm, and establish justice for all, we pray…
R: For those bound by hatred and resentment: that the Spirit may cultivate forgiveness and compassion within hearts, we pray…
R: For grandparents and the elderly: that we value their presence, help them to live serenely, and bestow on them the love and gratitude they have earned through their lives of sacrifice and dedication, we pray…
R: For ourselves: that we may not judge one another but rather be open to the work that God is doing within each of us that will be revealed in God’s time, we pray…
L: Lord, you are patient with us, see the good in us, and give us time to heal. Keep us free from judging and condemning, help us to accept and appreciate on another. Through Christ our Lord.
A: Amen.
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
The Lord’s Prayer
Spiritual Communion
A: Jesus, I know and believe in your real presence in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is you I desire to love and receive above all things. As I am unable to receive your sacramental presence now, come and be with me in heart and soul. Let my entire self be united with you as I welcome you again and know your loving embrace. Amen.
Post Spiritual Communion Reflection
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in “Gulag Archipelago”, has rich insights to offer on the matter of the struggle of good and evil within us:
I learned two great lessons from being in prison camps.
I learned how a person becomes evil
and how he becomes good.
When I was young, I thought I was infallible,
and I was cruel to those under me.
I was madly in love with power and, in exercising it,
I was a murderer and an oppressor.
Yet in my most evil moments,
I thought I was doing good,
and I had plenty of arguments
with which to justify my deeds.
It was only when things were reversed,
when as a prisoner I lay on rotten straw,
that I began to feel within myself
the first stirrings of good.
Gradually I came to realize
that the line which separates good from evil
passes not between states, or between classes,
or between political parties…
but right through every human heart.
Even in hearts that are overwhelmed by evil
one small bridgehead of good is retained.
And in the best of all hearts,
there remains an un-uprooted small corner of evil.
CONCLUDING RITE
Concluding Prayer
L: Lord our God,
you reveal your strength
by being patient with the weak.
Give us your Spirit,
that we may encourage rather than condemn,
be constructive rather than criticize,
accept one another rather than reject.
Through Christ our Lord.
A: Amen.
Blessing
L: The Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and lead us to everlasting life.
A: Amen.
L: Go in the peace of Christ.
A: Thanks be to God.
Conclude with a hymn. For instance:
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