Jesus told His disciples a parable of a Sower who went out to scatter seeds in his fieldAfterwards Jesus told another story to the people. This time he said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seeds in his field; but while men slept an enemy came to the field and scattered bad seeds everywhere. These bad seeds are called tares. By and by the good seeds and the bad seeds both began to grow.
And after they became stalks, and heads of grain appeared, the servants of the man came to him and asked, 'Did you not sow good seeds in your field? How then are these tares growing everywhere beside the stalks of wheat?' The man answered, 'An enemy has sown the tares.' Then the servants asked, 'Shall we gather out the tares?' but the master said, 'Wait until the time for harvest, lest while you pull up the tares you also pull up stalks of wheat. When all are ripened together, I will send reapers to first gather out the tares and tie them into bundles to be thrown into the fire. Then they will gather the wheat and put it into my barn.'" When Jesus finished all his stories he sent the people away, and afterwards he left the boat and also returned to the city. Then the disciples asked him to explain the meaning of the story about the tares. Jesus said: "The good seed are the people of God; the field is the world; and the man who sowed the good seed is the Son of man. The bad seed, or tares, are the people of the wicked one, and the enemy is Satan.
The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Just as the tares are gathered in bundles and thrown into the fire, so the wicked people will be separated from the good people at the end of the world. Then the good people will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of God, their Father."(Matt. 13:1-53; Mark 4:1-34)
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I was born a Roman Catholic, raised in Catholic schools, and like those kids who read the Holy Bible daily when they were kids, I once dreamed of becoming a priest. No kidding. In this poor country, not unlike doctors and lawyers, priests are one of those who belong to a vocation which guarantees daily bread and freedom from starvation. And unlike doctors and lawyers, priests do not have to look for work or apply for a job. When a man becomes a priest, he does what a priest does: he officiates masses, administers sacraments, and count the donations of the faithful. The faithful never fails to provide the church of its daily bread. Banks may go bankrupt and governments may sink neck-deep in foreign debt but the church will never run out of money. There is only one catch: a priest may never know the many mysteries behind married life. Probably, there may be some hoodlums who disguise themselves in robes and secretly enjoy the best of both worlds under the cover of night and shadow of convents and nunneries, or even sick and perverse ones who prey upon innocent sacristans to satisfy their hunger for lust, but percentage-wise most priests, IMHO, are faithful to the custom of clergy celibacy and remain content with masturbation or in the alternative, perhaps some serious pillow-fucking.
Anyway, I have been invariably going to church again every Sunday, thanks to my wife, who wouldn't have things go any other way. Usually, we hear mass on the local SM mall, but this morning, due to a series of coincidental events that I rather not describe in detail in this post, she decided that we go to Chapel 1 inside the defunct Clark Air Base. The Bible passage above is the topic of the priest's homily. Common in parish priests are the giving of bland homilies. Unless they are bishops or one of those TV priests, parish priests give sermons that only the slow-witted or those not listening would not know its defects both in logic and in the interpretation of scripture. Also, when delivering their sermons in English, they have the tendency to utilize language cliches like "in the final analysis" (Was there a first one?), "firstly" (not following up with "secondly"), etc., etc.. This particular priest, after telling some stories which are boring enough to make an acute insomiac sleep on the pew, interpreted this Sunday's Gospel to the effect that he's saying that the good grain are the good guys and the weed are the bad guys. I cannot help but explain the ridiculous folly of that interpretation.
Let me try to go and tinker with this priest's interpretation of the 2nd parable of the sower. He said the good grain are the good people (perhaps the faithful of his church, but no innuendo was made by him, or none was needed in a crowd of similar faiths), and they are sown by God. He also concluded that the weeds are the bad guys, sown by the enemy who is the Devil under the cover of night. And, in the end time, the grain shall be separated from the weed and the weed shall be put to fire. Meaning, the good guys will be kept by the Lord and the bad guys shall burn in hell.
If this is the case, then we will all go to heaven. Aren't we all good from the very start of our lives? Does not the holy sacrament of Baptism purge the vile consequence of Adam and Eve's original sin? If we are sown by God as grain, we will not turn into weeds. A grain seed will never become a weed even if it grows amongst weeds. In the end of time, God's angels will reap us all and keep us in God's company away from the evil weed.
What are the weeds? This priest concluded that the weed are evil men who will burn at the day of judgment. If this was true, then he is saying that all men do not come from God's grace--that some men are spawn of the Devil. Further, these evil men, from the moment they were born, are destined to burn in the fires of hell and suffer eternal damnation. If he is correct, then are we God's grain living with those of the devil on this earth? Some people may actually spawn of the devil.
To me, the priest's interpretation of this gospel is pure bullshit. Why, because it contradicts the very foundation of my faith. I believe in God-given free will. In the words of Don Domenico Clericuzio, "You could will yourself as a slave to earn your daily bread without dignity or hope or you earned your bread as a man who commanded respect." No man is ever destined to become a good grain or become an evil weed. No man is ever destined to become a fisherman or a lawyer. He wills himself to become a fisherman, or he wills himself to become a lawyer. Man is not an animal who live only through instincts and reflexes. To those who are familiar with the study of Criminal Law, this is called the "classical school of thought," to those who have been educated by Dominican friars, this is similar to Aquinas' concept of free will, and to those who do not fancy such bullshit, this just means that "every man is responsible for the consequences of his actions." This is the only dogma that I believe in. This is the stuff my faith in God is made of. God is the owner of an aquarium we call the universe. We are but man, we do not and cannot know His nature, just like the fish we have in the tank who cannot know ours.
This is the meaning of Jesus' gospel for this Sunday: God was the sower of the grain. The grain are all men he put in this earth, for no man is a sinner the day he is born. The weed are all the evil in this world--temptations, hardships, and the attractiveness of sin. Since we are good grain seed, having been chosen to be given life by God himself, we have the capacity to live amongst the weed and survive until the day of the harvest. Meaning, we have been given free will, or the capacity to resist evil and avoid sin. Perhaps this is the reason why God forbade His angels to weed out his crops. Those who chose not to shall die before the harvest, and their useless remains shall be burned along with the weed.
"The world is what it is, and we are who we are."
The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Just as the tares are gathered in bundles and thrown into the fire, so the wicked people will be separated from the good people at the end of the world. Then the good people will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of God, their Father."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I was born a Roman Catholic, raised in Catholic schools, and like those kids who read the Holy Bible daily when they were kids, I once dreamed of becoming a priest. No kidding. In this poor country, not unlike doctors and lawyers, priests are one of those who belong to a vocation which guarantees daily bread and freedom from starvation. And unlike doctors and lawyers, priests do not have to look for work or apply for a job. When a man becomes a priest, he does what a priest does: he officiates masses, administers sacraments, and count the donations of the faithful. The faithful never fails to provide the church of its daily bread. Banks may go bankrupt and governments may sink neck-deep in foreign debt but the church will never run out of money. There is only one catch: a priest may never know the many mysteries behind married life. Probably, there may be some hoodlums who disguise themselves in robes and secretly enjoy the best of both worlds under the cover of night and shadow of convents and nunneries, or even sick and perverse ones who prey upon innocent sacristans to satisfy their hunger for lust, but percentage-wise most priests, IMHO, are faithful to the custom of clergy celibacy and remain content with masturbation or in the alternative, perhaps some serious pillow-fucking.
Anyway, I have been invariably going to church again every Sunday, thanks to my wife, who wouldn't have things go any other way. Usually, we hear mass on the local SM mall, but this morning, due to a series of coincidental events that I rather not describe in detail in this post, she decided that we go to Chapel 1 inside the defunct Clark Air Base. The Bible passage above is the topic of the priest's homily. Common in parish priests are the giving of bland homilies. Unless they are bishops or one of those TV priests, parish priests give sermons that only the slow-witted or those not listening would not know its defects both in logic and in the interpretation of scripture. Also, when delivering their sermons in English, they have the tendency to utilize language cliches like "in the final analysis" (Was there a first one?), "firstly" (not following up with "secondly"), etc., etc.. This particular priest, after telling some stories which are boring enough to make an acute insomiac sleep on the pew, interpreted this Sunday's Gospel to the effect that he's saying that the good grain are the good guys and the weed are the bad guys. I cannot help but explain the ridiculous folly of that interpretation.
Let me try to go and tinker with this priest's interpretation of the 2nd parable of the sower. He said the good grain are the good people (perhaps the faithful of his church, but no innuendo was made by him, or none was needed in a crowd of similar faiths), and they are sown by God. He also concluded that the weeds are the bad guys, sown by the enemy who is the Devil under the cover of night. And, in the end time, the grain shall be separated from the weed and the weed shall be put to fire. Meaning, the good guys will be kept by the Lord and the bad guys shall burn in hell.
If this is the case, then we will all go to heaven. Aren't we all good from the very start of our lives? Does not the holy sacrament of Baptism purge the vile consequence of Adam and Eve's original sin? If we are sown by God as grain, we will not turn into weeds. A grain seed will never become a weed even if it grows amongst weeds. In the end of time, God's angels will reap us all and keep us in God's company away from the evil weed.
What are the weeds? This priest concluded that the weed are evil men who will burn at the day of judgment. If this was true, then he is saying that all men do not come from God's grace--that some men are spawn of the Devil. Further, these evil men, from the moment they were born, are destined to burn in the fires of hell and suffer eternal damnation. If he is correct, then are we God's grain living with those of the devil on this earth? Some people may actually spawn of the devil.
To me, the priest's interpretation of this gospel is pure bullshit. Why, because it contradicts the very foundation of my faith. I believe in God-given free will. In the words of Don Domenico Clericuzio, "You could will yourself as a slave to earn your daily bread without dignity or hope or you earned your bread as a man who commanded respect." No man is ever destined to become a good grain or become an evil weed. No man is ever destined to become a fisherman or a lawyer. He wills himself to become a fisherman, or he wills himself to become a lawyer. Man is not an animal who live only through instincts and reflexes. To those who are familiar with the study of Criminal Law, this is called the "classical school of thought," to those who have been educated by Dominican friars, this is similar to Aquinas' concept of free will, and to those who do not fancy such bullshit, this just means that "every man is responsible for the consequences of his actions." This is the only dogma that I believe in. This is the stuff my faith in God is made of. God is the owner of an aquarium we call the universe. We are but man, we do not and cannot know His nature, just like the fish we have in the tank who cannot know ours.
This is the meaning of Jesus' gospel for this Sunday: God was the sower of the grain. The grain are all men he put in this earth, for no man is a sinner the day he is born. The weed are all the evil in this world--temptations, hardships, and the attractiveness of sin. Since we are good grain seed, having been chosen to be given life by God himself, we have the capacity to live amongst the weed and survive until the day of the harvest. Meaning, we have been given free will, or the capacity to resist evil and avoid sin. Perhaps this is the reason why God forbade His angels to weed out his crops. Those who chose not to shall die before the harvest, and their useless remains shall be burned along with the weed.
"The world is what it is, and we are who we are."
