A very scary reading from Matthew:
Today’s Reading includes Mt. 13:36-43. In that passage, Jesus explains a parable to His disciples:
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his Kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
The first two lines are very easy to understand. They relate to a procedure with which everyone who’s worked in the yard is familiar: “. . . weeds are collected and burned up with fire,”.
What/Who are “weeds”? There seem to be two types: those who caused others to sin and those who did evil.
Do “weeds” include those who encourage membership in a “pro-choice” schism that hurts the fight to stop abortion?
Do the “weeds” include those who financially support denominations that waver on abortion, thereby making it harder to legislate it out of existence?
We have to be foolish to avoid understanding that, according to Matthew, the most intelligent thing any of us can choose to do with our life is to stay out of the “weed” category. As practicing Catholics, we stay away from sin and from causing others to sin.
Good Catholics are thoroughly Pro-Life. We do not weaken the Pro-Life cause by temporizing and compromising.
We will, by being obedient Catholics, have a better chance of avoiding the terrifying fate of weeds in the burn pile.
