The poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “A weed is a plant whose virtue has not yet been discovered.” History has often proven him right. Many illustrious and heroic figures were once regarded as “weeds” (masamang damo). St. Paul, for example, persecuted Christians and even approved of their execution before becoming one of Christ’s greatest apostles. Indeed, even weeds can yield surprising benefits.

This may help explain why the farmer in today’s Gospel parable instructed his servants not to uproot the weeds infesting his field. He may have hoped that something good might still come from these troublesome plants. But an even more practical reason was his concern that removing them would cause greater harm. As he said, “If you pull up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat along with them. So let them grow together until the harvest” (Matthew 13:24–30).

The parable reveals an answer to the question: “Does God tolerate evil?” God did not create evil nor does He approve of it, but He tolerates it as a tragic consequence of the freedom He has given us. We are free to love God and one another, yet we can also misuse that same freedom to reject Him and harm others.

God’s tolerance, therefore, must never be confused with moral relativism. He is merciful but not permissive. He respects human freedom, yet He expects us to exercise it in ways that do not sacrifice truth and justice. Jesus forgave sinners, such as the woman caught in adultery, but He also commanded her, “Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11).

God’s tolerance is not limitless. God tolerates our sins and imperfections only to give us ample time to repent before the final day of reckoning. As St. Peter beautifully explains, “The Lord is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Although God is infinitely merciful, His justice sets a limit to His tolerance.

Sadly, many people invoke God's tolerance as a model for our own, but they overlook the fact that His tolerance is never divorced from truth or justice. Invoking the values of diversity and inclusivity, they treat every belief and behavior as equally valid. Anyone who expresses a moral conviction that runs counter to their own is quickly branded as prejudicial or discriminatory. Ironically, by championing this radical form of tolerance, they often end up promoting cancel culture, a new form of dogmatism that silences dissent and demands unquestioning conformity.

Worse still, when people urge us to “be tolerant,” they often mean that we should approve of beliefs or actions that have traditionally been regarded as immoral. At the very least, they expect us to remain morally neutral and refrain from making judgments altogether. The philosopher Karl Popper warned against such false neutrality. He argued that if society grants equal standing to truth and falsehood, and if destructive behavior is defended merely as an expression of personal freedom, what ultimately prevails is the “intolerance of tolerance.”

We see the insidious effects of this distorted understanding all around us. Graft and corruption flourish because we tolerate the “little” acts of dishonesty committed by public officials. People lose faith in the electoral process because many assume that if cheating is not “massive,” it is acceptable. Families fall apart because infidelity is excused as an expression of personal freedom. Parental authority steadily weakens because a child’s destructive behavior is tolerated and goes unpunished. Many become enslaved to digital technology because they allow it to tyrannize their minds through subtle seductions.

Today’s parable makes it clear that God will not allow the weeds to choke the wheat forever. Should we not show the same wisdom in dealing with the masamang damo in our own lives, relationships, society, and government? We cannot tolerate them indefinitely, for what we refuse to confront today may ultimately destroy the very good we seek to protect.

St. Augustine expresses this truth with striking clarity: “If, despite all correction, a person in a community persists in his evil deeds, he must be expelled immediately, lest the community perish because of that person’s pestilent example.”