94. Monday after Fifth Sunday after Epiphany.
Search me, O God,
and know my heart,
and lead me in the way
everlasting. Amen.
Matthew 13, 36-43. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man: The field is the world: the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one: The enemy that sowed them is the devil: the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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Ignatius, a disciple of the apostle John, was about to be thrown to the wild beasts. Shortly before this he writes to a church which he knew and loved: “I am one of God’s grains of corn; I am to be ground by the teeth of the beasts, in order that I may be one of Christ’s pure loaves.” This is one of the few who have encountered death with a faith in which was no admixture of doubt. Who among us is able to boast of the like? And may not God come this very day? Here the rule that the harvest cannot come before the summer does not hold good. The Father has reserved to himself alone the right to fix the time and hour. Neither may we say: “The signs which are to precede this harvest have not yet come to pass.” We often are so blind that we neither see nor understand the signs of the times. Nor may we say: “The world is not yet ripe for the harvest.” Of this none can judge but the Lord of the harvest, who engages and directs the reapers. — Awake, therefore, ere the time comes to separate the grain and the chaff. God will have no noxious weeds. They may take such firm hold that it is beyond the power of man to destroy them; parasitic plants grow so thick that man is helpless to cope with the situation. But the sickle of God cannot be broken. He cuts down princes and paupers as it pleases best himself. Before him all men are as the grass of the field. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. — It will avail you nothing to dissemble before God. There is a sort of spurious wheat which in outward appearance is much like the genuine. A human reaper may mistake it for good grain, and gather it into his barn. Such counterfeit wheat is found in the field of God, also. Many have a form of godliness. But it is only a Christian cloak; the heart has not been renewed in humility and devotion to Jesus Christ. It is not possible to deceive God. He sees the heart, the corn, the kernel. These spurious ears of wheat, also, shall his reapers bind together in bundles to burn them. Make haste, therefore; become good wheat by the power of God. Be not ashamed to do penance. Make haste! The older one is, the more difficult it is to be renewed and become a child of God. Act on the supposition that the day of judgment shall come tomorrow. Today, then, you should take thought that you may be saved. Should God in his mercy prolong your life, you never will repent having found shelter under his grace; for they, only, enjoy life who adorn it with faith.
Give us, O God, this grace, that we may be true grains of wheat, and be gathered into thy glory. Amen.*
Ne’er think the victory won,
Nor lay thine armor down;
Thine arduous work will not be done
Till thou obtain thy crown.
Fight on my soul, till death
Shall bring thee to thy God:
He’ll take thee, at thy parting breath,
To his divine abode.
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.