Today is the 5th Sunday after Epiphany. As we follow through the different liturgical readings, we are reminded of our own progress on our spiritual journey as faithful believers and disciples of Christ.
The epistle from the letter of St. Paul to the Colossians is a reminder to us to remember what he said, “Put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him…” (Col. 3:10). Christ has died and has risen from the dead. Therefore, we consider ourselves dead to sin, so let us put aside our old ways with its pride, self-centeredness and inordinate desires because the holy Lord has made us according to His image.
Our proper response to God is to live as He wants us to live. Christ has taken our hearts as His heart for us to know that we are chosen of God. The words of St. Paul are encouraging us to persevere filling our hearts with compassion, kindness, love and forgiveness. Let the word of Jesus richly dwell within you. Determine in your hearts to respond to God’s choosing as His missionary disciples of our time, and all that we do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
The gospel taken from St. Matthew narrates to us about the Parable of the Sower. In the gospel, it has mentioned the word “cockle,” which for Americans means sea clams with edible bivalve mollusks. What about the cockle according to biblical meaning? In reference to Job 31:40 and in St. Matthew 13:30, this word refers to some weed, perhaps offensive due to bad or unpleasant smell, or simply noisome weeds.
Hearing the word of God, we must be rooted and assimilate what we hear from scriptures which is the voice of God. Our open-minded heart and attentive listening could be best practiced by our willingness to learn and to bear spiritual fruits.
St. Augustine has in mind that if one of us is negligently and intentionally lukewarm in our preaching, the devil comes and sows in seed those whom the Lord had termed cockle, or weeds, which means those who obstinately deny the truths of the Catholic Faith. St. Augustine obviously knows about this because of his exposure to different heresies of his time. We are told of the weeds sown amongst the wheat and “an enemy has done this,” in particular the Manichean heresy.
St Augustine is reminding us that it is our primary duty to teach sound doctrine of Christ while being aware of so many cockles, or enemies, sowing the seed of deception. Our profound understanding of the teaching of Christ and ability to acquire good seed of doctrinal clarity is our shared responsibility. The importance of Christian Religion is crucial at this period in time, when many people turn away from God. A world without its author of creation is dangerous. Brothers and sisters, be ever vigilant to protect our flock against heresies and ideologies of our day that grow up all too frequently. Remember that evil is evil, and it must be identified for what it is. We must prevent the enemy’s empty words and works from enticing us. Let us then refute his false promises, not embrace these enemies. With the good seed sown in our souls by the Sacraments we have received, we can grow to maturity and bear much fruits in order for us to confront them and be safe from the attacks of the enemy. Let us secure one another and watch each other carefully lest we become infested by diabolic weeds or cockle. All weeds are too quick to root and grow in our own souls whenever we leave or don’t care of our spiritual welfare being unattended, and we lose many souls to our common enemy, Satan.
Let us hinder the enemy by regularly indulging in the examination of conscience and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Confession and the Holy Eucharist. Forgiveness and healing are available if we ask, and it requires humility, determination and sincerity of the heart.
We know from the gospel that oftentimes God tolerates the weeds sown by the enemy because the Church is a mixture of good and evil. We must not be impatient with them because the gospel teaches us that the time of harvest shall come.
Only by being mindful of our moral choices today and tomorrow will determine where we find ourselves in respect to them. If our past moral choices have been evil, let us repent and do penance while there is still time to do so. God’s grace will be upon you. Jesus is seeking and waiting patiently once we are ready to surrender completely to Him.
God’s grace is necessary to persevere in the life of virtue, and may the peace of God be with you.
Fr. Arlon, osa
