Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Catholic Meditation “The Word among Us” for Thursday, 31 July 2014

Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Catholic Meditation “The Word among Us” for Thursday, 31 July 2014
Meditations: Matthew 13:47-50 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
51 Jesus asked, “Are you starting to get a handle on all this?”
They answered, “Yes.”
52 He said, “Then you see how every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”
53-57 When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meetinghouse. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise, get such ability?” But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “We’ve known him since he was a kid; he’s the carpenter’s son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?” They got their noses all out of joint.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:6)
In the popular children’s story “The Polar Express,” a number of children board a train bound for the North Pole on Christmas Eve. During the journey, unexpected and menacing events unfold that challenge each of them to grow in unique ways. By the time they return home early on Christmas morning, each child has grown in a different virtue of the conductor’s choosing.
Today’s first reading points to a similar trajectory in our own lives. Each of us is on a journey of faith, and along the way we all have the opportunity to be changed, molded, formed, by the Lord. Just as the potter shapes the clay into something beautiful, God longs to shape us into vessels that reveal his glory and love. If we let him, he can make up all that is lacking in our lives. He can help us grow in virtue and put away sin. Just like pottery that is hand turned, each of us is a unique creation. Each of us reveals God’s handiwork in a new and different way.
Part of the challenge is recognizing that we need God’s hand in our lives. Whether he is just beginning to mold us or we have been with him for some time, we all have our imperfections and weak spots. But that’s no problem for our Father. He never gives up on us—not even if he has to turn us back into a lump of clay so that he can start over again!
Don’t you find it very encouraging to know that God hasn’t given up on you? Even if it feels as if you’ve taken far too many turns on the potter’s wheel, know this: your heavenly Father is committed to making you into the strongest, the most beautiful, the most useful vessel possible. Know this as well: it’s hard to see, as you’re spinning around on that wheel, just how beautiful you have already become. You may not see it, but God does. And so do many of the people in your life!
“Father, I am so grateful that you love me so much! Keep shaping and forming me, so that I can reflect your glory to the world.” Amen!
Jeremiah 18: To Worship the Big Lie
1-2 God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.”
3-4 So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.
5-10 Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?” God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel. At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.
Psalm 146:1-2 Hallelujah!
    O my soul, praise God!
All my life long I’ll praise God,
    singing songs to my God as long as I live.
3-9 Don’t put your life in the hands of experts
    who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don’t have what it takes;
    when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
    put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
    sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
    he defends the wronged,
    he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
    he gives sight to the blind,
    he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people, protects strangers,
    takes the side of orphans and widows,
    but makes short work of the wicked.
-------