2022년 7월 28일 연중 제17주간 목요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
예레미야서. 18,1-6
1 주님께서 예레미야에게 내리신 말씀.
2 “일어나 옹기장이 집으로 내려가거라. 거기에서 너에게 내 말을 들려주겠다.”
3 그래서 내가 옹기장이 집으로 내려갔더니,
옹기장이가 물레를 돌리며 일을 하고 있었다.
4 옹기장이는 진흙을 손으로 빚어 옹기그릇을 만드는데,
옹기그릇에 흠집이 생기면 자기 눈에 드는
다른 그릇이 나올 때까지 계속해서 그 일을 되풀이하였다.
5 그때에 주님의 말씀이 나에게 내렸다.
6 “이스라엘 집안아, 주님의 말씀이다.
내가 이 옹기장이처럼 너희에게 할 수 없을 것 같으냐?
이스라엘 집안아, 옹기장이 손에 있는 진흙처럼 너희도 내 손에 있다.”
복음
마태오. 13,47-53
그때에 예수님께서 군중에게 말씀하셨다.
47 “하늘 나라는 바다에 던져 온갖 종류의 고기를 모아들인 그물과 같다.
48 그물이 가득 차자 사람들이 그것을 물가로 끌어 올려놓고 앉아서,
좋은 것들은 그릇에 담고 나쁜 것들은 밖으로 던져 버렸다.
49 세상 종말에도 그렇게 될 것이다.
천사들이 나가 의인들 가운데에서 악한 자들을 가려내어,
50 불구덩이에 던져 버릴 것이다.
그러면 그들은 거기에서 울며 이를 갈 것이다.
51 너희는 이것들을 다 깨달았느냐?”
제자들이 “예!” 하고 대답하자, 52 예수님께서 그들에게 이르셨다.
“그러므로 하늘 나라의 제자가 된 모든 율법 학자는
자기 곳간에서 새것도 꺼내고 옛것도 꺼내는 집주인과 같다.”
53 예수님께서는 이 비유들을 다 말씀하시고 나서 그곳을 떠나셨다.
July 28, 2022
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1
Jer 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.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 146:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab
R. (5a) Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Put not your trust in princes,
in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.
When his spirit departs he returns to his earth;
on that day his plans perish.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God.
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 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.
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Jeremiah’s analogy of potter and clay is familiar to many, especially to those of us who grew up singing “Thou art the potter, I am the clay” from the old hymn “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.”* That slow-moving melody, based on a prayer written by Adelaide Pollard, has been in my head as I read and prayed for writing this reflection. Such a wonderful declaration of offering oneself up to the Creator to be made into a Spirit-filled vessel used for God’s purpose.
I find Jeremiah encouraging. A potter looks at a misshapen lump of clay and envisions a beautiful, useful finished product. God looks at each of us with a potter’s eye and sees potential. Still better, we – sinners all – are imperfect and often damaged goods, but our Potter repairs and uplifts us so we can serve again. Thanks be to God!
We shouldn’t view our usefulness as a one-time event, either. We are all works in progress, with God using and repurposing us as we see fit – and this happens as long as we are on earth. A dear octogenarian friend used to get frustrated by people who would claim that they were too old or had already made their contributions. She would tell them, “If you’re still alive, it’s because God still has a use for you.”
It also is important to remember that sometimes we are the clay, and sometimes we are the Potter’s hands used to shape other lumps of clay. (We are, after all, each one of us part of Christ’s body (I Cor 12:27).) It can be tempting to start grouping people into the good fish and bad fish categories Jesus describes in Matthew. A more Christlike approach is to show love and mercy to others, to focus on their positive potential, with the hope that the Potter is reworking those individuals just as He is with us.
________________
* Jeremiah 18 was the inspiration for Adelaide Pollard’s lyrics:
(verse 1) Have Thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Thou are the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
(verse 4) Have Thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Hold o’er my being absolute sway.
Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
THE ULTIMATE QUALITY CONTROL
“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.” —Jeremiah 18:4
God is the Potter, and we are the clay (Jer 18:6; Is 64:7). However, because we are living, free clay, we can choose not to cooperate with God. In that case, what the Potter is making turns out badly, and He will start over again (Jer 18:4). The Lord insists on quality (see 1 Cor 3:12-15). In fact, at the end of the world, lives of godly quality will be judged “worthwhile” (Mt 13:48), while those with unfruitful lives of low quality will be hurled “into the fiery furnace, where they will wail and grind their teeth” (Mt 13:50).
The quality which the Lord expects in our lives is humanly impossible to attain, but the Lord will take over our lives and transform them to the highest quality. We need only be like Mary and let it be done to us according to God’s Word (see Lk 1:38). Godly quality is a matter of His grace and our obedience. The Potter will make of each of us a masterpiece if we but accept His grace and let ourselves be cleansed of evil things (2 Tm 2:21). Therefore, give your life to Jesus, the only Way (see Jn 14:6) to quality and eternal happiness.
Prayer: Father, when fire tests the quality of my life (1 Cor 3:13), may I be approved.
Promise: “Praise the Lord, O my soul; I will praise the Lord all my life.” —Ps 146:1-2
Praise: John has turned down job offers that would have interfered with his ability to adore Jesus in the Eucharist each week.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
What can a story of a dragnet and a great catch of fish tell us about God's kingdom? The two most common ways of fishing in Jesus' time was with a casting-net (or hand-net) which was thrown from the shore and the drag-net or trawl which was let down or cast into the waters from a boat. As the boat moved through the waters the dragnet was drawn into the shape of a great cone which indiscriminately took in all kinds of fish and flotsam and jetsam swept in its path. It usually took several men to haul such a net to shore.
Reward and judgment at the end of the age
What is Jesus' point here? Just as a drag-net catches every kind of fish in the sea, so the church acts as God's instrument for gathering in all who will come. Just as the drag-net does not or cannot discriminate, so the church does not discriminate between the good and the bad, the useless and the useful. God's kingdom is open to all who will accept and believe. But there will come a time of separation, at the close of the age when the Lord Jesus returns again and sends out his angels who will separate the good and the bad and then send them to their respective destinations. Our duty in this present age is to gather in all who want to become citizens of God's kingdom here on earth as well as in heaven above.
The Lord Jesus, when he comes again at the end of this age, will give to those who believed in him and his way of truth and righteousness a glorified resurrected body and a home in his everlasting kingdom. But for those who refused to follow the Lord Jesus and his merciful word of truth and righteousness, their destiny will be total separation and loss of joy and happiness with God and his community of redeemed men and women. The Lord Jesus freely offers the treasure of abundant life and everlasting joy to all who believe in him and accept him as their Lord and Savior. Do you yearn for total peace, joy, and union with God in his everlasting kingdom?
Trained for the kingdom of heaven
What is the point of Jesus' parable about a "scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 13:52)? Jewish scribes were specially devoted to the study and practice of the Word of God entrusted to Moses (the first five books of the Bible) and in instructing others in how to live according to God's commandments and way of holiness. In the Old Testament Ezra was called "the ready scribe of the law of the God of heaven" (Book of Ezra 7:6,21). He received this title because he "had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments" (Ezra 7:10). Ezra's heart was set on the kingdom of heaven because he revered God's word and he taught others through example and instruction to love and obey God's word.
The old and new treasure of God's word
Why does Jesus compare a "trained scribe" with a "householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old" (Matthew 13:52)? Some people love to store up old prized possessions along with their newly acquired prizes. Others are eager to get rid of the old to make room for the new. So why does Jesus seem to emphasize keeping the old along with the new? Why not replace the old, especially if the new seems to be better or more useful? Wouldn't a person want to throw away an old pair of shoes and replace them with a new pair - especially if the old pair became well-worn or torn beyond repair? But, who in his right mind would throw away an old precious jewel or some old gold coins simply because they were ancient and maybe tarnished a bit? Precious gems and gold do not lose their value with age! Like choice vintage wine they increase in value.
Jesus' parable of the "old" and the "new" certainly points to the "older covenants" which God made with his covenanted people of the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with Moses on Mount Sinai, and with King David - the precursor of the Messiah (Psalm 89:3 and Psalm 110:1). Jesus' parable also points to the "new covenant" which he came to establish through the shedding of his blood on the cross and the anointing of his Holy Spirit who seals the new covenant on the day of Pentecost. Jesus did not come to abolish the Old Covenant but to fulfill it. The Lord calls us to treasure all of his word - all of his commandments, promises, precepts, and teaching (Psalm 119:14,72,127,162). Do you promise to keep all of God's commands? The Lord gives strength, blessing, and joy to those who treasure all of his word.
We would be impoverished today if we only possessed the treasures of the word of God in the "Old Testament" Scriptures or if we only knew the treasures of the "New Testament" Scriptures. Both the Old and New Testament Scriptures are given by the same eternal Father, inspired by the same eternal Holy Spirit, and fulfilled by the same eternal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from the beginning and who was sent from heaven to take on human flesh for our salvation (John 1:1-3,14).
Unity of the Old and New Testaments
There is a profound unity between the Old and New Testaments. Both are divinely inspired by one and the same Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfills the Old - the two shed light on each other. The Old Testament prepared the way for the coming of Jesus Christ as the redeemer of all who would be saved through his sacrifice on the cross. The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New. That is why Jesus interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures for his disciples and explained how he came to fulfill what was promised and foreshadowed in the Old (Luke 24:27). That is why we read the Old Testament in the light of Christ's saving death and resurrection. Do you revere the word of God in the Scriptures - both old and new - and see their fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Lord Jesus, may your word take deep root in my heart and transform my way of thinking, discerning, and acting. May your Spirit open my ears to hear and understand the word of God in the Scriptures that I may revere and treasure both the Old and the New Testaments which God has prepared for all who desire to enter his kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy. Help me to be a diligent student and faithful disciple of your word.
Psalm 84:1-5,10
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! [Selah]
5 Blessed are the men whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: A scribe who is trained for the kingdom of heaven, by Cyril of Alexandria (375-444 AD)
"A scribe is one who, through continual reading of the Old and New Testaments, has laid up for himself a storehouse of knowledge. Thus Christ blesses those who have gathered in themselves the education both of the law and of the gospel, so as to 'bring forth from their treasure things both new and old.' And Christ compares such people with a scribe, just as in another place he says, 'I will send you wise men and scribes' (Matthew 23:34) (excerpt from Fragment 172)
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