The Book of the prophet Jeremiah
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.
The Gospel according to Matthew
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.
Thursday 17th Week in Ordinary Time
(Mt 13:47-53)
God’s Word for Us
Dear People of God,
Word of God today, Jesus continues to teach people about the Kingdom of God through the parable of the net. The Kingdom of Heaven is a place filled with love, always open to invite all of His children to enjoy happiness with their beloved Father.
Jesus told us about the parable that the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea and caught all kinds of fish: good fish and bad fish. God wants to tell everyone that: God always loves everyone, He does not distinguish the virtuous from the wicked or the good from the bad. He told people about the immense love of God the Father so that people could repent and turn away from their sins and return to God’s love. There is no one in this world who has a great love like Him. However, people today are still indifferent to God’s love, still busy seeking worldly fame rather than the Kingdom of God.
Through the parable in today’s Gospel, God wants to emphasize to all His Children this message: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that is dropped to cover all of humanity. God will gather in the net all the good fish and the bad fish. It means that when it comes the day when God calls everyone out of this world: the good fish is the good person whom God will let into enjoy happiness with Him, and the bad fish is the person who does not live according to the Word of God, He will remove it from His Kingdom. While living on earth, Jesus called everyone to live well to please God, so that when he calls to his side, they will enjoy happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven forever. God does not want to lose a single child by being excluded from His Kingdom.
The Word of God invites everyone to look to the consecrated love of Jesus Christ who died on the cross, to look at that love and to convert their sins, but to return to God will be restored. The Father is ready to forgive us and so that we can enjoy the eternal happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven in the future.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
