“God bears with imperfect beings even when they resist His goodness. We ought to imitate this merciful patience and endurance. It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become toward the defects of other people.” Bishop Francois de Fenelon, the archbishop of Camray, penned these words in the 18th century, but they speak just as loudly to us today.
If God’s approach to us, His children, was determined simply by His justice, we would be in a hopeless situation. When I think of the number of times that I have gone to confession, stated my sins and sincerely pledged to never commit them again, I am brought to my knees as I ponder God’s patience with me. God has every right to be perfectly upset with me, to treat me as an ungrateful, hard-hearted, spoiled brat. He has blessed me in countless ways, and I have rebelled in so many ways. In God’s justice, I should be nothing but dried up bones, but in His love, I am the recipient of abundant patience and mercy.
The Old Testament book of Wisdom captures this particular dimension of the goodness of God. “There is no God besides you … your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all … But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us … you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins” (Wis 12: 13, 16-19).
The Gospel for this week also proclaims the patience of Our Heavenly Father. Jesus tells a parable about a farm owner (who represents God) who sows good seed into his field. At night, his enemy comes and sows weeds all through the wheat. When the crop begins to grow, the workers ask the owner if they should pull up the weeds. The farm owner responds, “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest.”
God knows very well about the presence of evil in our world. He decides to let the good and the bad seed co-exist while constantly nourishing the good seed with an abundance of grace. He lets the sun and the rain fall on the good seed and the bad in order to let the good seed grow, become strong, and bear much fruit. God’s patience is directed at our salvation. He does everything that He can, without intruding on our freedom, to nurture us so that we can become mature in faith and produce an abundant harvest for our Master.
Our response to God’s amazing patience and mercy should be a heightened desire to change our lives and live completely for Christ. We should be overwhelmed by God’s merciful love and radically commit ourselves to seek His will in every aspect of our lives. We should be willing to stand tall among the weeds in our world and produce an abundant harvest of virtue, prayer and charitable deeds.
It is true that God must satisfy the demands of justice. That is why He sent his only-begotten Son who died and rose for us. Christ became our justice. Now, God, in His great mercy, constantly invites us back to Him after we wander. He is remarkably patient. May we be His grateful children who recognize the marvels of His love, humbly repent of our sins, and respond to the gift of the Holy Spirit by living radically for the King with every fiber of our being, and cultivating a harvest of justice, peace and prayer in our world.
