In due time

Someone once said that people who keep saying “Shoot” and “Darn” will eventually go to “Heck.”

In today’s Gospel (Mt. 13, 24-30), Jesus tells us in the Parable of the Sower that the good seed and the weeds are often intertwined, and it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. But Jesus assures us that in due time, there will be a final selection and definition. He further tells us that goodness will triumph over evil.

Why not separate and do away with the weeds that choke and even kill the good seed? Why, indeed, allow them to coexist side by side? Why not do the purging and cleansing right now? But God’s ways are not man’s ways, and God’s way is to allow them together until harvest. Mysterious are God’s ways. God has a plan, and there is a big picture. Let us learn to trust Him more. God has perfect timing.

“Haste makes waste.” Let us go back to this basic lesson in life. Good things take time to happen and to ripen. Some things cannot be forced or hurried. All these teach us to be patient and to wait—virtues that have been set aside in our present world that operates on speed and is obsessed with instant results and outputs.

What is a “weed”? A weed is a person that affects, retards, and even kills the good seed. In so far as we impose, control, and make life difficult for others, we become a weed to them. Who are the weeds in your life? Are you a weed to others?

Let us thank the Lord today for the people who have helped us grow and have fertilized our lives. Let us be grateful to people who have guided us and helped us, people who have prayed for us and have encouraged us, people who have respected our space and pace, and who believed in our goodness and capacities. Thank You, Lord, for people who are near us, yet know when to keep their distance and do not crowd us.

It’s not as if weeds have the upper hand in our journey through life. Good seeds do triumph over weeds. Many years ago, Mayor Jose Maria Rocha (father of Fr. Jingjong Rocha, SVD, provincial superior of SVD Philippine Southern province) issued a municipal ordinance in Tagbilaran, Bohol, to have biblical passages printed in all public utility vehicles.

To this very day, tricycles and jeepneys travel all over the city and all over Bohol spreading God’s word.

One of the highlights of our recent pilgrimage to Cebu was our visit to the tomb of Archbishop Teofilo Camomot in Carcar. I was so edified by his life story. He was an archbishop, but first and foremost, he was a humble, prayerful, generous, dedicated and simple priest. In fact, he is now a candidate for beatification with the help of Ricardo Cardinal Vidal. There are so many testimonies by people who have been cured, and there is a developing devotion for his intercession and healing. Let us all pray for this great grace for our country and our people.

On a personal note, I knelt before his tomb, and felt God’s presence and embrace. I asked him to heal my left knee which has been giving me pain for some eight months now. I also made the same request as I knelt before his old bed. Right after that, I felt peace and warmth, and the pain in my left knee was gone—or 80 percent of it, anyway. But more than the healing I received, I felt the strong presence of God, and a spiritual renewal because of my encounter with a holy, saintly priest.

“Addanto.” Papa and Mama always said this word to remind us to be patient, to trust, and to wait. Literally, the Ilocano word means “There will be, someday.” Let us not give up hope. Let us not be dismayed when things don’t happen our way, or are delayed. There is a God, and we’re not Him. Indeed, God will make a way when it seems there is no way. And God does make all things beautiful in His time. One with you in hope and in prayer for whatever is happening in our lives, at this point of our journey.

Think about this: “God is making things happen for us even when we don’t see or feel it. Yes, God is working, the seed is growing.”

A moment with the Lord:

Lord, help me to believe and keep on believing that in due time, all things will happen according to Your will and plan. Amen.