THE VOICE WITHIN

God does not judge hastily. When it comes to separate the evil from the good, God takes his time. Inevitably, each man gets his reward according to what he had sown and reaped in life. To illustrate this, Jesus Christ put forth a parable:

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while he slept, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went his way.

So when the plants sprang up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared too. And the servants of the householder came and said unto him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?’

The householder replied, ‘An enemy has done this’. The servants then asked, ‘Do you then want us to go and gather the weeds up?’

But the householder said, ‘No, lest in gathering up the weeds, you uproot the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time, I will tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

After hearing this parable, the gathering dispersed for the day. But Christ’s disciples followed him into the house to ask what the parable meant.

And he explained, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the weeds are the children of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the Age, and the reapers are the Angels. As the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of this Age.

“The Son of Man will send out his Angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, and will cast them into the furce of fire. There will be weeping and gshing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Thus it was that Saint Augustine spoke of this parable to remind that it is not for man to separate the wheat from the weeds. That must be left to the Angels when the Day of Judgment arrives.

So wherever there is wheat, there will also be weeds. Who is what is not for man to judge. Let the good tolerate the bad; let the bad change themselves and imitate the good. Thus, let all, if it may be so, attain to God. Let all, through His divine mercy, escape the evil of this world.

— the harbinger