Homily for 28 Jul 2015

28 Jul 2015

Anybody who has a garden knows that pulling out the weeds is a never-ending chore.  And maybe just a few times during the year can they say their garden is “weed-free.”  The rest of the time . . . well, it’s a mix.  And that’s like us—we’re a mix.

If each of our lives is like a garden, it’s safe to say that we each have “good seeds” growing as well as the occasional “weed.”  And it’s a never-ending chore to keep pulling at our sins and weaknesses, trying to keep the garden of our lives clear and healthy.  As much as God made us to be free from sin—and, in the end, we are because of Christ—in everyday life sin is still a reality. 

[A lot of the time it’s is like a pesky little mosquito that just won’t leave you alone.  Or, then again, it’s like a swarm of mosquitos, and you wonder: “Why even bother trying to squash them?”  Why even bother trying to get over our sins . . . sometimes those “weeds” in our life can be so overwhelming.  And that’s when we take a cue from Moses and the disciples.

As we heard, Moses went into the meeting tent to talk with God about the sins and weaknesses of the people and what to do about them.  And the disciples went into Jesus’ home to ask for his wisdom because they didn’t understand.  And we do the same.  It’s because we’re sinners that we come to the Lord.

We come before the Lord again and again, here, in this more permanent “meeting tent,” the tabernacle.  Sometimes God is here on the Altar looking at us during Eucharistic Adoration.  He looks at us and we look at him and say, “Lord, I have sins in my life.  Help me with that.”  Or we go to the Lord in the quiet of our home, in the solitude of our room and talk with him.]

God knows we’re sinners.  But he also knows that we’re trying to be faithful—we’re trying to have that “weed-free” garden.  And so we keep going on the never-ending “chore” we call “conversion.”  But, as good as that life-long work of conversion is, the more important work to do in the garden of our life is to trust the Lord who is “kind and merciful."

In the end, it’s that heavenly kindness and divine mercy that’ll pull out the last weeds of sinfulness in us.  A weed-free garden won’t save us; but the kindness and mercy of God will.  The Lord is kind and merciful.  That is our reason to be hopeful, even while we are still sinners.