28 July 2022
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
There are two truths we need to grapple with: Jesus wants us to be a certain way, and we have blemishes which often impede our being the way Christ wants us. The parable Jesus shares has a blunt message: if the Kingdom of God is like a net which casts fish which are either good or bad, which type of fish are you? We can remember, of course, that the fish was an ancient symbol for the Christian. If nothing else, we can say that Jesus Christ wants us to consider our character, the type of person we are in our dealings with others.
Whereas the curt lesson in this parable is meant to wake us like a splash of water, the image in Jeremiah dissipates our fears and offers encouragement like a soothing balm. We have vices. We have a mental list of shortcomings. There are persistent, bad habits which compose our character that stubbornly obtrude in our lives. To that, the Lord extends his potter hands, always willing to touch, and gently shapes the clay of our very self. He knows everybit of us.
In order to become evermore what Jesus desires we be, let us entrust to Him the parts of ourselves that disquiet us and ask that, through time and the patient working of his grace, he shapes us. In doing so, maybe then can we lessen the harshness of our self-judgement. Maybe then we won’t impatiently strive for perfection but follow the slow path to holiness he sets before us, always guided by the gentle hand of mercy.