16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the movie Doctor Strange, a doctor met an accident which made his hands useless. He tried to look for healing yet he failed. It was only when he met the Ancient One in an enclave that he hoped to find his healing. While trying to heal himself in the enclave, he learned that he was with some extraordinary people at the frontline of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying reality. He had to make a choice then whether to return to his great life as a doctor or to leave it all behind to defend the world. He decided to defend the world. At the end, the good triumphs over evil. But if the viewers waited for the final ending of the movie, it ended with Mordo, Doctor Strange’s friend siding with evil. It actually suggests that evil triumphs so often in this world. This seems realistic as we look at what is happening in our world or society these days. Evil is happening everywhere every day. In a Catholic mind like me, a question arises, “Why does God allow evil to triumph in this world? The Gospel of Matthew 13: 24-43 can help us reflect on the answer to this question. Jesus, in His first parable, said something about a man who sowed good seed in his field but his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat in the field. Evil seems to prosper at first. But Jesus finally revealed the triumph of evil is short-lived by saying  these: “Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

To end, we have to accept the fact that as we live here on earth, we can experience the battle between evil and good. Even in each one of us, we sometimes experience difficulty in making choices, to do good and avoid evil. Jesus told us to be steadfast so as not to succumb to evil. We have to fix our eyes on the everlasting reward in heaven for being good and for doing good. Our world is like the field in the parable that as we grow together, good people and evil doers, we must remain good while waiting for the harvest time when good and evil are separated. For those who have done wicked deeds, hell. For those who have good deeds, eternal life in heaven. Amen.