My Thursday Daily Blessings, August 2, 2012

My Thursday Daily Blessings Be still, quiet your heart and mind, the Lord is here loving you, talking to you................. Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (Roman Rite Calendar) *First Reading: Jer 18:1-6

This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Rise up, be off to the potter's house; there I will give you my message.
I went down to the potter's house and there he was, working at the wheel.
Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done' says the LORD.
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

*Responsorial Psalm: Ps 146: 1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab,         "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob."     *Gospel Reading: Mt 13:47-53

Jesus said to the disciples:
"The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."

"Do you understand all these things?"
They answered, "Yes."
And he replied, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

**Reflection:

What can a story of a dragnet and a great catch of fish tell us about God's kingdom? The two most common ways of fishing in Jesus' time was with a casting-net (or hand-net) which was thrown from the shore and the drag-net or trawl which was let down or cast into the waters from a boat. As the boat moved through the waters the drag-net was drawn into the shape of a great cone which indiscriminately took in all kinds of fish and flotsam and jetsam swept in its path. It usually took several men to haul such a net to shore. What is Jesus' point here? Just as a drag-net catches every kind of fish in the sea, so the church acts as God's instrument for gathering in all who will come. Just as the drag-net does not or cannot discriminate, so the church does not discriminate between the good and the bad, the useless and the useful. God's kingdom is open to all who will accept and believe. But there will come a time of separation, at the close of the age, when the angels will send the good and the bad to their respective destinations. Our duty is to gather in all who will come. God, in the end, will give the good and the bad the reward they deserve. God offers the treasure of his kingdom to all who believe. Do you hunger for God and his kingdom?

**Prayer:

"Lord Jesus, increase my hunger for your kingdom and fill my heart with eager longing for you that I may one day gaze upon your face in everlasting bliss."

Amen. Sources: *Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. **Don Schwager Author and Writer Sword of the Spirit and The Word Among Us