When I was growing up, one of the things that I did a lot during the summer was to help my Mom in taking good care of our garden. I remember spending hours and hours during the weekends pulling weeds and, up to this day, I can still hear in my head Mom’s words, “make sure you get the roots out, or they’ll just grow back.” In today’s gospel, Jesus explains to his disciples the meaning of the parable of the weeds in the field. Each one of us, no matter how advanced one is in his/her spirituality, continues to experience the sprouting or the budding of spiritual weeds – things that get in the way in the full blossoming of our life in Christ. And, just like any kind of weed, if we don’t do anything about it, it can potentially outgrow and overpower those things and values that truly define who we are as sons and daughters of God. Just like the weeds disfigure the beauty of a certain plant, spiritual weeds can also destroy and disfigure the vitality and beauty of our spirits; if we don’t uproot them, they might even spread to other people. What are the spiritual weeds that I need to get rid of in my life right now – those things that are negatively overcrowding our spirit and stunting our spiritual growth and maturity? Make sure you get the roots out, or they will just grow back. – Fr. Cary