Thursday - August 03, 2017
Start by doing what's necessary;
then do what's possible; and suddenly
you are doing the impossible.
--Saint Francis of Assisi
TODAY'S READINGS
August 3, 2017
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 404
Reading 1EX 40:16-21, 34-38
Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.On the first day of the first month of the second year
the Dwelling was erected.
It was Moses who erected the Dwelling.
He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars,
and set up its columns.
He spread the tent over the Dwelling
and put the covering on top of the tent,
as the LORD had commanded him.
He took the commandments and put them in the ark;
he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it.
He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil,
thus screening off the ark of the commandments,
as the LORD had commanded him.
Then the cloud covered the meeting tent,
and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.
Moses could not enter the meeting tent,
because the cloud settled down upon it
and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.
Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling,
the children of Israel would set out on their journey.
But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward;
only when it lifted did they go forward.
In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling;
whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud
by the whole house of Israel
in all the stages of their journey.
Responsorial PsalmPS 84:3, 4, 5-6A AND 8A, 11
R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young–
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!
AlleluiaSEE ACTS 16:14B
R. Alleluia, alleluia.Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 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.
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What are You collecting?
After listening to what Jesus says in our Gospel reading today, consider what you're collecting in your net. When your life on earth has reached its end and Jesus comes to take you home, what will be in your net? What will you try to drag into heaven? What will the angels have to sort through to yank out and help you get rid of in "the fiery furnace"? (Now there's a picture of purgatory!)
And what will the angels show to God and say in great delight, "Hey, look at this! Awesome! Really cool!"
Whatever we collect that does not belong to the kingdom of God is worthless. It won't give us heaven on earth and it won't get us into heaven later. In fact, it's a handicap that will lengthen our purging process in purgatory. We might see value in it now, but that's only an illusion. The value we've assigned to it does not exist in real life -- "real life" is the eternal life that we have with God.
I think my computer is valuable because I'm using it to share my insights with you, but I can't take it to heaven. I can't even keep it working well here on earth! Therefore, it's worthless in real life and a burden. What is valuable, however, is how I choose to use it as a tool for the kingdom of God. Although my words can disappear off the monitor with a click of the delete button (or the unexpected meltdown of the hard drive), the words you receive from me as inspirations of the Holy Spirit will last forever.
The gifts that God gave me that enable me to share these inspirations, and the partnership I have with the Holy Spirit who uses them to bless you and heal you and challenge you, and the ability to convey these words with compassion so that the challenges don't drive you away, and the gift of being able to pay for the equipment and Internet services that deliver them to you -- these are the truly valuable treasures that have been caught in my net.
I can choose to use my net to capture things that have no lasting value. I could write fluff that is nice to your ears but does nothing to help you travel farther on your journey of holiness. I could use my writing talents for immoral trash or stories that glamorize violence and horror. But why should I do any of that? It's meaningless. It's a waste of my short time on earth!
What are you collecting? What's in your net that the angels will have to hurl when Jesus takes you to heaven? Will you be wrestling the angels for it? You can get rid of the bad fish now! Utilize the power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, that sacred gift that helps us make room for the awesome stuff of God, the valuable treasures that we can use in his kingdom today and will be ours to enjoy forever.
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God Bless You.....
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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