Matthew 13:47-53

Have you ever asked yourself at times: What is Christ doing about his Church, because we see so many bad people around us, even in Church? What is Christ doing about this situation? Can he not intervene and cleanse our communities so that the good ones could live in peace and dedicate themselves to a pious life?

In today’s parable Jesus answers these questions with a clear “no.” His Church is not an exclusive club of good people. His Church is open to all. As a dragnet neither selects nor discriminates, the Church must tolerate side by side the good and the bad, the pious and the lazy, the actively involved and the indifferent. Who knows when and how people change through God’s grace.

I remember the story of a young man who went to his pastor and complained. “Father, I don’t go to church anymore because it’s full of hypocrites.” The pastor looked at him with a smile and then said, “My dear young, there is still room for one more.”

My dear friends, God is a patient God who waits for us to change. He gives us new chances to change our lives. That’s is why the gospel today may very well be called a gospel of the second chance. God gives us chances after chances to change our lives and return to him. But are we listening to him? Are we ready to change our lives for the better? But here is the problem. It’s true, God is a patient God who waits for us to change. But how long can he wait? Remember that there is also a time of reckoning. At the end of time, God will judge us accordingly. It says in the gospel, “at the end of the age…the angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

Do we have to wait till the end of time to change our lives? Now is the time to change our lives. For tomorrow maybe too late.