Thursday, July 28, 2016

Reflection: Matthew 13:47-53


Thursday of the 17th Week of Ordinary Time – Matthew 13:47-53

In today’s gospel passage, Jesus 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 and other objects.  When the net is full, the men haul it ashore.  However, the net typically will collect more than fish, including random objects or species of sea life that were not useful for their purposes.  Thus, when the fishermen brought the net ashore, they had to separate what was good and edible from what was not useful.  Naturally, they discarded what they could not use.

Jesus then proposes another analogy.   He tells his disciples: “The angels will separate the wicked from the righteous and the wicked will be thrown into a fiery furnace where there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

It is easy for us to categorize ourselves as either righteous or wicked, but I assume that we exhibit a bit of each quality, depending on what is happening in our lives.  However, when we become aware that we are in a “wicked” or unproductive space, we have opportunity to move toward a “righteous” or peaceful space!

Today I invite you to be aware and alert!  Forgive yourself if you realize that you are griping, upset, or tense today.  Then consciously move into a peaceful and loving stance.  What do you experience in this process?  Hopefully, you will like the difference.  We can choose our moods and our attitudes!

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