Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Thursday 17th Week in Ordinary Time
August 3, 2006
Thursday 17th Week in Ordinary Time - Yr II
JEREMIAH 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.
MATTHEW 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.
REFLECTION
In today's first reading, Yahweh sends Jeremiah to the potter's shed,
telling him that he will speak to him there. In the shed, Jeremiah
watches as the potter works at the wheel with the clay in his hands.
The potter knows what shape he wants the clay to assume. When it does
not take the shape he desires, he reworks it to what he wants it to be.
The potter here does not represent the Creator-God fashioning the world
out of nothingness. It is rather the Creator-God sustaining the
creature he has made and refashioning him into the sort of person he
wants him to be. It is Judah, Yahweh's own people that the Creator-God
is refashioning.
Judah had been chosen by Yahweh to be his own people. Together they had
entered a covenant. Judah would worship Yahweh alone and all the people
of Judah would respect one another and behave toward one another with
justice and compassion. Yahweh would be obliged then to be Judah's God
and to accept the people of Judah as his own people. But the people did
not keep the terms of the covenant. Yahweh would therefore refashion
his people, as the potter refashions the clay object that is not
pleasing to him. Yahweh, the Lord of History, would call in forces
beyond Judah's control, the expansionist intentions of the Chaldean
Empire, to be the agent for Judah's refashioning. In the Babylonian
Exile, the people would be transformed. Exile and adversity would stir
up within them the longing to be Yahweh's people, the desire to live by
the stipulations of the covenant they had with God. This refashioned
people would return to Jerusalem and rebuild Judah.
Jeremiah unwittingly reminds us in this passage that God can also
refashion us by events that are beyond our control. The more conscious
we are of God working within us, the more accurately will we be able to
read God's intentions in the events of our life, the more fully will we
be able to participate in our own refashioning.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Lesley Anne G. Choa
- Birthday: Benny T. Cordova
- for the eternal repose of the soul of Eric Huang.
Eternal rest grant unto him and may perpetual light shine upon
Him. May they and all the souls of the dearly departed rest in Peace.
- In Memoriam (+): Angel Pe
- In Memoriam (+): Engracia Hollman
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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