Sermon 73A
SERMON 73
From the Gospel according to Matthew 13:
On the man who sowed good seed in his field
"Weeds must be tolerated until the Angels separate them from the wheat."
We have heard the holy Gospel and Christ the Lord speaking in the Gospel; from there let us speak what he himself will give. This parable, brothers, perhaps I would labor to explain it to you; but he provided a summary for us because he himself explained who proposed it. Whoever indeed reads the Gospel reads up to where the Lord said: "Gather first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." But afterward: His disciples, as it is written, approached him and said to him: "Explain to us the parable of the tares." And he who is in the bosom of the Father himself told: "He who sows the good seed," he said, "is the Son of Man," speaking of himself. "The field, however, is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the tares, however, are the children of the evil one. The enemy, however, who sows them, is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age; the reapers, however, are angels. When therefore the Son of Man comes, he will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." I have spoken the words of the Lord Christ, which were not read, but thus are written. Therefore, the Lord explained to us what he proposed. See what we choose to be in his field: see what kind of people the harvest finds us to be. For the field, which is the world, is the Church spread throughout the world. Whoever is wheat, let him persevere unto the harvest; whoever are tares, let them be changed into wheat. For this is the difference between humans and true grains and true tares, because those in the field, what is grain is grain; what are tares are tares. However, in the field of the Lord, that is the Church, sometimes what was wheat turns into tares; and sometimes what were tares change into wheat: and no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Therefore, the laborers indignant with the paterfamilias, when they wanted to go and remove the tares, were not permitted; for they wanted to remove them, but were not allowed to separate the tares. They did what they were capable of, they reserved the separations for the angels. And indeed, they did not wish to reserve the separations of the tares for the angels; but the paterfamilias, who knew all and that a separation was to be sent, commanded them to tolerate the tares, not to separate them: "No," he said – when they had said: "Do you want us to go and gather them?" – "no: lest perhaps, when you would gather the tares, you uproot the wheat with them." Therefore, Lord, will tares also be with us in the barn? "At the time of harvest," I will say to the reapers: "Gather first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them"; tolerate in the field what you will not have with you in the barn.
Against the heretics, the weeds of Catholic unity.
Listen, dearest grains of Christ; listen, dearest ears of Christ; listen, dearest wheat of Christ; attend to yourselves, return to your consciences, question your faith, question your love, awaken your conscience; and if you find yourselves to be wheat, let it come to your mind: He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved. But whoever, having examined his conscience, finds himself among the weeds, let him not fear to change. The command to be cut has not yet been given, the harvest is not yet; do not be today what you were yesterday, nor tomorrow what you are today. What good is it to you to say you will change someday? God has promised forgiveness to you when you are changed, but he has not promised you tomorrow. However you leave the body, that is how you will come to the harvest. Someone has died, I do not know who, he was a weed; can he there become wheat? Here in the field, either weeds become wheat, or wheat becomes weeds; here it is possible; but elsewhere, that is, after this life, it is the time for receiving what has been made, not the time for making what has not been made. But whoever has been as weeds, and wants to separate himself from the field of the Lord Christ, will not be wheat; for he would certainly remain wheat. What do the weeds fear in the wheat? Let both grow together until the harvest, says the head of the household: Let them grow together; the reapers do not make mistakes, they know where to make bundles from, and throw into the fire. However, bundles cannot be made of wheat, and thrown into the fire. The bundles reveal the separations: Arius has his own bundle there, Eunomius has his own bundle there, Photinus has his own bundle there, Donatus has his own bundle there, Manichaeus has his own bundle there, Priscillianus has his own bundle there. All these bundles will be thrown into the fire, let the wheat be secure, they will rejoice pure in the barn.
The enemy sowed tares everywhere.
Where then did that enemy not sow tares? What kind, what place of wheat did he find, and did not scatter tares? Did he sow among the laity, and did not sow among the clergy, or among bishops? Or did he sow among the married, and did not sow among the chaste who profess? Or did he sow among the married women, and did not sow among the nuns? Or did he sow in the houses of the laity, and did not sow in the congregations of monks? Everywhere he scattered, everywhere he sowed. What did he not mix with? But thanks be to God, for He who will deign to separate does not err. For it is not hidden from Your Love, that tares are found in any high and exalted harvest. And tares are found in the profession. And you say: In that place, and there they found the wicked, and in that congregation they found the wicked; but the wicked are found everywhere, but they will not always reign with the good. Why do you wonder because you found the wicked in a holy place? Do you not know that the first sin in paradise was disobedience, and by it the angel fell? Did it pollute heaven? Adam fell: did it pollute paradise? One of Noah’s sons fell: did it pollute the house of the righteous? Judas fell: did it pollute the choir of Apostles? Sometimes, according to human judgment, some are thought to be wheat, but they are tares; and some are thought to be tares, but they are truly wheat. Because of these hidden things, the Apostle says: Do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will illuminate the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then every man shall have praise from God. Man’s praise passes, sometimes man praises evil, and does not know; sometimes man accuses the holy, and does not know. May God forgive those who do not know, and help those who labor!