Our parish has many talented gardeners who give of their time to work on the gardens of our parish grounds and I am not one of them, but I do believe I can tell the difference between a weed and a flower. So what is the big deal about these weeds being thrown in with the grain in our Gospel? The weed in question is known to us as cockle and it is a big deal for it is toxic to human consumption. The problem with cockle is that it cannot be distinguished as such until it matures. Therefore it looks perfectly like grain, but in all reality it should not be consumed.
The Fathers of the Church see this passage to be making reference to false doctrine. It is false doctrine which confuses the faithful and causes them to rebel against their faith and thus against Jesus Christ Himself. False doctrine is toxic like cockle because it rips us away from the Body of Christ to which we should be joined.
We cannot allow ourself to be found asleep such as the individual in our Gospel. So many Christians in this day and age are found to be asleep. They have thus allowed the enemy to infiltrate their household to spread the toxicity of this cockle.
So many are ready to take up popular opinion concerning Church doctrine for they have allowed themselves to get caught off guard by the enemy. They have taken in the cockle of false doctrine and have accepted it as truth to the detriment of their faith. Instead we must form our conscience to that of the Church and thus to that of Christ. In this manner we rebuke the enemy from our midst and thus invite true doctrine into our life.
What can we do to defend ourselves against the confusion of this cockle and thus the spreading of true grain at the time of the Harvest of the Lord?
If we are to allow true grain to be made manifest we must find ways to nurture this seed of faith. Spiritual reading assists us in this way as does making time for the study of our faith. A Protestant is able to quickly quote from scripture to our amazement, but if we are amazed by such a feat then why don’t we devote time to the study of our faith. When we question a Church teaching we should not pass over it lightly, but instead we should educate ourselves to the reason for the teaching and thus form our conscience to the mind of the Church.
It is education which assists us in coming to know Christ and thus truths of our faith, but so often we are willing to take our faith lightly and thus lose the sight of this reality.
Let us therefore take up study of our faith and make time for spiritual reading in order that we may be found on guard against enemy who wants nothing more then to confuse us and thus do us harm.
