The parable of the wheat and the weeds in the gospel of St. Matthew (13,24-30) offers us very precious lessons on vigilance, discernment, discretion as well as fortitude and charity. It's a reflection of how our life in this world is-full of confusion, the exercise of freedom producing all sorts of things that mix good and evil, truth and falsehoods, etc.
We have to be ready to go through this unavoidable predicament, adequately equipping ourselves to do battle with it which, in the Christian sense, will always be a battle of love, joy and peace. There will always be the usual skirmishes and combats, but if we manage to be truly identified with Christ, this warfare will end with the victory of love.
We should never be naïve as to think that everything will just be fine in the world, because some kind of "invisible hand" will take care of fixing whatever problems we will have. There's obviously the abiding and omnipotent providence of God, but we have to remember that that providence counts on our cooperation too. We have to be actively involved in the affairs of the world.
Truth is there is a real enemy of God, and of ourselves as well, who is orchestrating everything to spoil whatever good we can in this world. He is referred to in the gospel as the prince of this world, the prince of darkness, the prince of devils, etc. He is powerful allies, first, in our wounded selves, and the formidable structures he has put up since time immemorial.
We should not dismiss this reality as some kind of over-pious fantasy. While we have to learn how to be calm and discreet about this, neither should we take this unfortunate aspect of our human condition for granted.
What we have to do is to truly take care of our spiritual life, seeing to it that we are vitally and continually linked and identified with Christ, for only then can we handle this predicament properly. We need to pray, study the doctrine of Christ and now of the Church thoroughly, have recourse to the sacraments, grow in the virtues, mature in our sense of commitment to spread the gospel, etc.
We need to see to it that we can truly echo what St. Paul once said: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Only in him can we have the answer to all questions, the solution to all problems, the relief to all our burdents.
Let's banish the thought that there are things in our life where God has nothing to say. Today, there are even those who say that there is no God, or that God has absolutely nothing to say on anything, and that therefore he is just a mere myth, a superstition, etc.
Let's learn how to discuss and argue our points with faith, hope and charity. Yes, we need all the resources of reason and its products of the sciences and the arts, but let's never forget that everything has to start and end with faith, hope and charity.
Especially these days when a lot of persuasive sophistry is employed by those who don't believe and, much less, love God, we need to know how to tackle their arguments, patiently showing the truth in its fullness in season and out of season. This can always be done if the proper preparation and means are used.
Let's remember that the wisdom of the world can look like true wisdom, just like the weeds or the tares can look like the genuine wheat. Sophistry and the world's wisdom cannot progress and cannot be attractive if it has nothing of the good and the true in it. So while we need to wait for the harvest, as the parable indicated, we can start discerning which is which and putting the proper measures to at least the mitigate the very terrible effects of the confusion.
We need to remember that what is of primary importance to us is to uphold the truth in charity that will always give a certain priority to the person over the position he may take. We should be more interested in saving souls rather than in simply being correct and victorious in a discussion.
And so, we need to polish well our skills at engaging in dialogue and discussion with others. We have to avoid at all costs what is known as the bitter zeal. We should prefer to suffer rather than to be found lacking in charity.
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