Wheat, Weed, and Patience

Our priest's sermon today was exactly what I needed to hear. The Gospel today was the parable of the farmer who sows good seed and at night an enemy comes and sows cockle (weed) seed over the wheat. No one knows what has been done until the seed sprouts and the workers start to notice that there is weed thoroughly intermingled with the wheat. 

They are anxious and ask the farmer if they should pull out all the weed, but the Master tells them to have patience; let the weed grow along with the wheat. If they should pull up the weed now, they risk pulling out the young wheat and thereby ruining much of the crop. When the harvest time comes, they can then harvest all at once and separate the weed from the wheat. The weed will be bound and thrown in the furnace. The wheat will be gathered into His barn.


Patience....  

Patience.....

Patience...

Wow! Sometimes the Gospel and sermon just blow me away! 

Lately I've been thinking there are too many wrong-headed people in the world, too many sinners! Why can't God just get rid of all these bad people who screw up my idea of how the world should be?! 

Today I hear "patience". 

The day will come when the Master will separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the weed. It is His job; not mine. My job is to be patient, pray, practice charity, and of course to promote good/fight evil - but only in a spirit of charity. I have to allow God to work. The word patience comes from a French word meaning sufferance, permission and from a Latin word meaning endurance, submission. We patiently submit to Gods will and give Him permission to give us suffering. We endure it out of love and trust that He knows which way is the best way. 

Patience..... patience.... 

God is still holding the world in His hands and his eyes are on all. He will eventually come to harvest and separate. 

Patience....

Then the priest said that not only is there wheat and weed in the world, but also wheat and weed in each of our own hearts! What?

Yes, that's true, isn't it? 

And although we must work on increasing virtue and decreasing vice, we must be patient with ourselves. Our hearts are human and divine. That will be so until the the end of time. We need to accept our sinfulness with patience because it keeps us humble. God can bring good even from sin. We are to be patient. Pray. Work for goodness in ourselves and in the world, but primarily in our own heart. 

We must be patient. 

Patience........ahhhhh, yes. 

The Catholic Knight: America Is Dead

The Catholic Knight: America Is Dead
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Post election greetings from America! Yes, it's true. America is dead, but last Tuesday, it was NOT Barack H. Obama...continue reading.

It is a little long but very worthwhile and Michael Voris's video nails it.....



You see, I love my country very much indeed and it pains me to say this, but I am in agreement with The Catholic Knight on this topic. I love America so much and was so attached to her that I descended into days of agony after the election. 

But suddenly, I saw that, yes, I must release my sentimental attachment to her and look at the bigger picture of God's Will. I can only attribute this sudden lightening of my heart and clearness of vision to a gift of God's grace. He is going somewhere with this and it really doesn't matter where or how He takes us there as long as we adhere to the Traditional Liturgy, the Latin Mass, and practice our faith with great fervor. We need to start this immediately because the churches that offer the Traditional Liturgy will probably begin to go away. In fact, it is this blogger's opinion that they may be the first to be persecuted because they are the true treasure of the Church and speak the Truth most consistently. 

This administration will be the cause of much suffering but those that remain faithful will be strengthened for even greater struggles to come. As Cardinal George of Chicago so prophetically stated:

I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.

This country and it's man-made constitution was good (not sacred, but good) for a time but we stopped defending the constitution and our inalienable God-given rights long ago; so, as we are now seeing, America is temporary, as are all things of the world. Let's keep our eyes, minds, and hearts heavenward and trust. Go to daily Mass as often as possible. Say the Rosary daily. Develop and strengthen the virtues of true charity, faith, and hope. These are the things we can do.



For more on this subject.....see St. Louis Catholic

Also, Michael Voris has a few ideas......Church Militant TV

Friday's 7 Quick Takes

--- 1 ---

My ankle surgery is FINALLY beginning to heal!! I mean, the outside has looked healed for quite a while, but has anyone ever had nerve surgery??? Nerves don't like to heal. They like to continue to torture you for months on end and the only way to shut them up/shut them down is to overload them with sensory input and I'm not talking about eiderdown quilts and cotton balls. I'm talking rubbing with rough towels, the scrubby side of sponges, and velcro (yes, VELCRO!) Also, using vibration beginning with an electric toothbrush all the way to a super-powerful electric body massager and pressing hard. And using your fingers to push on the scar in every direction as hard as you can. And immersing your ankle in buckets of rice, macaroni, and then buckshot while you swish it around. Rinse. Repeat. Rinse. Repeat. Daily. This has not been fun. But I think I'm finally on the mend.

--- 2 ---

My antivirus software expired and I was informed that the product had been upgraded to a MUCH better version so of course I purchased and downloaded. After rebooting my computer at least 10 times per all the bizarre instructions, it was installed and my computer was slower than molasses. Turns out after an online chat with the company the new version forgets to uninstall the older version which almost brings your computer speed to a dead halt. Problem now fixed.

--- 3 ---

This blog is getting off to a slow start but I plan to write about knitting and my Catholic faith and the state of our Church and culture, not necessarily in that order. I'm a traditional Catholic in love with the Latin Mass.

--- 4 ---

I just this week put my mums in the ground in our front yard. Is this too late? Will it now freeze? I'm in Missouri.

--- 5 ---

My second oldest son is getting married next May in San Diego, CA, ON THE BEACH. After much discussion per phone calls, texts, letters (yes, actual written letters) and emails, apparently I am not the only parent to be distressed about a non-Church wedding. Now his darling bride's parents are putting a little pressure on (yea! I'm not the only bad guy here.) so there will be TWO weddings. One in a church with a priest and a Mass (thank you, God) and the second on the beach. Wow!

--- 6 ---

I absolutely LOVE this weather! Usually at this time of year we are still running the AC. This fall is glorious, especially after the hellish summer heat.

--- 7 ---

I'm not a computer geek at all, so I think I'm screwing up this last take. I'm unable to get my cursor all the way over to the left. Oh, well, maybe it will work after all. I am currently knitting a scarf called the Hyacinth Scarf from the book, Knitting With The Color Guys: Inspiration, Ideas, and Projects from the Kaffee Fassett Studio. It's made with a sock yarn and you carry a strand of Kidsilk Haze. Very pretty! Will post pics soon. 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Okay, I know, it's been a while (how's that for an understatement). Lots of reasons, some of which I'll explain later. But for now I am joining Jen Fulwiler on her 7 Quick Takes.