Good farmers know that you just can't start pulling the weeds out of a field of wheat. They grow too close to the wheat and are entangled in its roots, so that in uprooting the weeds you endanger the wheat also. Unfortunately, the weeds steal sunlight and nourishment from the wheat, they invade its space and crowd it out, they strangle it and prevent it from ripening. They persecute the wheat.
In His parable of the weeds and the wheat our Lord wants to tell us that this is what happens to the good. They are persecuted by the wicked, who poison the minds of the innocent and lead them into sin. They destroy their faith through heresy disguised as truth, and sin disguised as entertainment. Let the wise Christian beware!
The minds of many "pastors of souls" have already been corrupted, so that they can no longer safely guide their people. Through dialogue with the world the contemporary church has lost true judgment concerning good and evil, and has tossed the sheep to the wolves. And many parents can no longer safely guide their children. Deceived and confused themselves, they are like the blind leading the blind, both of whom, says Our Lord, fall into the pit (Matthew 15:14).
Many people, including traditionalists, sad to say, cooperate with the devil and endanger their souls by watching TV programs and movies that are simply immorality disguised as entertainment. The "weeds" of the entertainment industry destroy the faith of the innocent by portraying fornication as funny, the gay lifestyle as hilarious, lewd and immodest behavior as normal. By watching programs like this, young people, like their parents before them, lose their ability to discern good from evil and are taught first to tolerate, then to love sin. They end up worse than the pagans.
What happens is that the conscience becomes dulled. The sense of sin is lost. One must not laugh at sin. Sin is not amusing or entertaining. When sin becomes a laughing matter, it is no longer the horror that has caused all the sorrows of the world. One no longer remembers that Paradise was lost because of sin, and that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Jesus Christ shed His Precious Blood upon the Cross to save us from these very sins, so how can we behave like His executioners, adding thorn after thorn to His crown, or raining blows of the lash upon His torn and bleeding flesh? By doing so we give power to His enemy, the devil, and his field of malicious and poisonous weeds. Take a good, hard look at the programs you watch. Don't let those wretched weeds corrupt your mind and steal your faith.
Along with the loss of the sense of sin is the loss of a sense of the sacred. Sacred things are even made an object of ridicule, and Jesus Himself is paraded before sinners to be mocked and spat upon once more. The most pure and holy Virgin Mary and the saints, as well as the holy Catholic Church are also made objects of scorn and derision. To laugh at the mockery of holy things is a further step down on the road to Hell.
Abraham's nephew Lot and his family lived in Sodom, where they had a lot of nice, friendly neighbors. But the neighbors' minds had become totally corrupt, and they wanted to entice Lot's guests into sin. The only way to avoid being corrupted themselves was to leave the city. So God ordered Lot and his wife and two daughters to turn their backs on the city and its inhabitants, led by the two guests, who were really angels sent by God to rescue them. Lot's two intended sons-in-law took the whole thing as a hilarious joke, and lost their lives and their souls by staying behind in Sodom. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed in a rain of fire and fuming brimstone (Genesis 23-29). The sulfurous ruins can be seen even to this day. Lot's wife, thinking she was safe once she had left the city, turned around to take one last look, and she was turned into a pillar of salt. The moral of the story is: God's judgment is no laughing matter; turn away from evil; avert your eyes from sin.
Jesus makes it very clear that decisive action is required where sin is concerned: "So if thy right eye is an occasion of sin to thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish than that thy whole body should be thrown into hell. And if thy right hand is an occasion of sin to thee, cut it off and cast it from thee; for it is better for thee that one of thy members should be lost than that thy whole body should go into hell" (Matthew 5:29,30).
Don't sit on the fence with the lukewarm. "I know thy works," says the Lord, "thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit thee out of my mouth…" (Apocalypse 3:15,16).
Occasions of sin must be scrupulously avoided if one is to escape hell, and this means any person, place or thing that is likely to cause one to sin. Anyone involved in a sinful relationship must break off the relationship immediately. The alcoholic must not take that first drink. Those addicted to pornography must avoid its sources. Those enslaved by the TV or the internet must either learn to use the "off" button, or throw out the offending device. Fight the good fight, "For," says St. Paul, "you have not yet resisted unto blood in the struggle with sin" (Hebrews 12:4).
Are we to be "weeds" or "wheat"? We read from St. Paul: "For the earth that drinks in the rain that often falls upon it, and produces vegetation that is of use to those by whom it is tilled, receives a blessing from God; but that which brings forth thorns and thistles is worthless, and is nigh unto a curse, and its end is to be burned. But in your case, beloved, we are confident of better things, things that promise salvation, even though we speak thus. For God is not unjust, that he should forget your work and the love that you have shown in his name, you who have ministered and do minister to the saints. But we want every one of you to show to the very end the same earnestness for the fulfillment of your hopes; so that you may become not sluggish but imitators of those who by faith and patience will inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:7-12).
May God grant us, through His Divine Son, Jesus Christ, a lively faith, courage to fight the good fight, and eternal life at last!
