July 20, 2008: Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)
Little children are very cute. My 3-yr. old niece named Therese is no exception. They do cute things, like bringing a doll or teddy bear for you to kiss it. But they also do not so cute things. One day Therese was brought to a house of another young child to play. And when Therese saw the toys this young girl was playing with, she went over and greedily took away the toys. You just imagine the scene; two girls tugging at the toys and crying. My sister reflected to me later how interesting that at such a young and innocent age, greed shows up. She laughed away such behavior. As a mother she believed in the goodness of her child. She knew that this was only one of many virtues that needed to be shaped over the course of Therese’ life. She knew it’s not going to happen immediately. Punishing Therese severely at this time may not be the best medicine for her. So patience is one of the hallmarks of a good parent.
We can see the virtue of patience also in God the Father. Let’s take this example. Fr. John Corapi is a popular speaker and confessor well televised throughout US. You can see his testimony on the YouTube if you type Father John Corapi. In the 1970s, then John Corapi was in LA trying his hands in the real estate boom which made him a millionaire. With money came fast-lane living style; fast-lane meant also a dark living style. Soon he developed a $10,000-a-week cocaine habit and lost all of his money and ended up in the streets as a homeless beggar. He was in such darkness. At that time he cried out to God, 'If you are real, and I don't know if you are, you need to rescue me now.’ He ended up going back to his mother who lived in New York. She had prayed rosary for him for a long time, and the mother’s prayer was answered. John Corapi went to confession for the first time in 20 years and confided to the priest that he felt he was called to the priesthood. To which the confessor replied incredulously, “I guess for God anything is possible.” He went on to join a religious order, receive two doctorates in theology in Rome, and was ordained by Pope John Paul II. Fr. John Corapi’s journey is a showcase of God’s patience in its finest. If you met John Corapi as a homeless drug addict, would you had the heart to trust in his goodness, to forgive his faults, and the patience to guide him to become who he was truly meant to be?
But that’s the kind of Father God is. If we want to truly understand today’s parable of the Weeds in the Field, we need to be able to see this parable from the Father’s loving gaze toward his beloved child, who is us. He is a Father who trusts in the goodness of his child, always forgives our faults, and waits patiently as he guides us. Some of us think that when we stray away from God, we are a lost cause. Some parents come to me exasperated that their children have strayed away from the Church, living a life that is not worthy of being Christian. The hearts of the parents are pierced when their child stray and suffer. That is even more so for God the Father. His heart is even more burning and yearning for his child to return. Yet our God the Father trusts as my sister trusted in the goodness of her daughter, and our God the Father waits patiently as he did with Fr. Corapi. Our task is to learn to see ourselves from God the Father’s loving gaze.
We can see the virtue of patience also in God the Father. Let’s take this example. Fr. John Corapi is a popular speaker and confessor well televised throughout US. You can see his testimony on the YouTube if you type Father John Corapi. In the 1970s, then John Corapi was in LA trying his hands in the real estate boom which made him a millionaire. With money came fast-lane living style; fast-lane meant also a dark living style. Soon he developed a $10,000-a-week cocaine habit and lost all of his money and ended up in the streets as a homeless beggar. He was in such darkness. At that time he cried out to God, 'If you are real, and I don't know if you are, you need to rescue me now.’ He ended up going back to his mother who lived in New York. She had prayed rosary for him for a long time, and the mother’s prayer was answered. John Corapi went to confession for the first time in 20 years and confided to the priest that he felt he was called to the priesthood. To which the confessor replied incredulously, “I guess for God anything is possible.” He went on to join a religious order, receive two doctorates in theology in Rome, and was ordained by Pope John Paul II. Fr. John Corapi’s journey is a showcase of God’s patience in its finest. If you met John Corapi as a homeless drug addict, would you had the heart to trust in his goodness, to forgive his faults, and the patience to guide him to become who he was truly meant to be?
But that’s the kind of Father God is. If we want to truly understand today’s parable of the Weeds in the Field, we need to be able to see this parable from the Father’s loving gaze toward his beloved child, who is us. He is a Father who trusts in the goodness of his child, always forgives our faults, and waits patiently as he guides us. Some of us think that when we stray away from God, we are a lost cause. Some parents come to me exasperated that their children have strayed away from the Church, living a life that is not worthy of being Christian. The hearts of the parents are pierced when their child stray and suffer. That is even more so for God the Father. His heart is even more burning and yearning for his child to return. Yet our God the Father trusts as my sister trusted in the goodness of her daughter, and our God the Father waits patiently as he did with Fr. Corapi. Our task is to learn to see ourselves from God the Father’s loving gaze.
