17th Thursday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 13:47-53
Today Jesus uses another analogy for “The Kingdom of heaven.” He uses an example from his experience as a fisherman. Since quite a few of his disciples also were fishermen, they would be more likely to understand his message.
He tells his disciples that the Kingdom of heaven is like a net that is thrown into the sea. Naturally the net collects a variety of species of fish. When the net is full, they haul it ashore. However, a net typically collects more than fish. Often the net would also collect a variety of other objects or other species of sea life that was not useful for their purposes. Thus, when they brought the net ashore, they had to separate what was good and edible from what was not useful. Naturally they threw aside what they could not use.
He then tells his disciples: “the angels will separate the wicked from the righteous.” And the wicked will be thrown into a fiery furnace! There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth!
Today is a good day to ask ourselves: Are we one of the righteous ones? Or are we one of the wicked ones? I assume that we may be a bit of both. We may move from one end of the spectrum to the other, depending on what is happening in our lives. However, when we become aware that we are in a wicked or unproductive space, we need to consciously choose to move toward our righteous space!
Today I invite you to be aware and alert! Forgive yourself if you are in your wicked space for a time today! Then consciously move into a more peaceful and loving stance. What do you experience in this process? Hopefully, you will like the difference!
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