Opening Prayer – 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time
God of great patience
May we learn from Your Word
how to be more tolerant of our failings
and the faults of others.
Your Word tell us that when we seek You,
the Holy Spirit fills us with what we lack
Help us to see ourselves and others through Your eyes;
Lord, Jesus, make us whole in YOU!

Journal/Reflection Questions
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
• Is there someone in your life in need of justice or mercy? How can this scripture shed light on the situation?
• What does the act of repentance show of God’s character?
Romans 8:26-27
• Where did you learn how to pray? Who taught you? What did you learn?
• Can you recall a time recently when the Holy Spirit came to your aid? How do you know the Holy Spirit helped you?
Matthew 13:24-43
• What reason is given for keeping the weeds? How does this affect your understanding of love? What are you being challenged to do in your life with this understanding?
• Consider how this parable parallels the scripture in Matthew about the final days when the sheep and the goats are separated. Make a list of all the similarities.

General Questions for Journaling
• Did someone teach you how to weed a garden? How was this done? How did you know which growth were weeds and which were not? How is this similar in relationships?
• Can you identify some of the weeds growing within you right now? What actions do you take to keep more weeds from growing or taking root?
• Do you identify yourself by your actions? Would you consider yourself basically good or basically bad? What is this based on?
• Can weeds be good? What can you learn from the weeds? Do they have a purpose?
• Is there someone in your life which you dubbed a “weed”? Seek the beauty within them.
• Are you quick to judge the faults/weeds of others? How can you learn from God’s patience to change your actions?
• Be honest. Is there someone from whom you need to seek forgiveness? Can you find it within yourself to repent for the wrong you have done, or the hurt you have caused?

Closing Prayer
Leader: You listen to our grumblings;
ALL: Still you answer our prayers.
Leader: You watch us as we stumble;
ALL: Still you pick us up when we fall.
Leader: You see us turn away from you;
ALL: Still you call us into Your kingdom.
Leader: Thank YOU for Your tolerance;
ALL: May we strive to follow your example.

Challenge for the Week: The scripture suggests we “try and try again”. When we fail, we turn to God to repent and then continue to press on. This is difficult to do when we are faced with adversity. Good athletes practice for hours to perfect their skills to become better. Take a lesson from them and choose a new practice to help you get rid of the weeds in your life and be diligent about it. Make a decision to create a new “good” habit. Don’t focus on trying to get rid of a bad one, simply plant a good habit, cultivate it and put your focus on making it grow. Don’t feel guilty if you mess up or skip a day, repent and try again…keep trying each day to grow. In time, the practice of good will help weed out the bad.