Gospel: August 1, 2024
17th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 1 / (White)
St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop & doctor
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 146: 1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
1st Reading: Jeremiah 18: 1-6
This is the word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah: “Go down to the potter’s house and there you will hear what I have to say.”
So I went to the potter’s house and found him working at the wheel. But the pot he was working on was spoiled in his hands, so he reworked it all over again into another pot that suits his desire.
Meanwhile Yahweh sent me his word, “People of Israel, can I not do with you what this potter does? As clay in the potter’s hand so are you in my hands.
Gospel: Matthew 13: 47-53
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net, let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish into buckets, but throw the bad away. That is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just, and to throw the wicked into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.”
Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. So he said to them, “Therefore, every teacher of the law, who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, is like a householder, who can produce from his store things both new and old.”
When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.
Reflection:
“The gift of discernment”
Now that we begin another month in our faith journey, facing the new challenges that come to us every day, it is good to examine ourselves vis-à-vis our growth in terms of discernment. How well do we use God’s gift of discernment? We are still reflecting on the so-called Matthean parabolic discourse. Today’s Gospel tells of another parable: the parable of the dragnet—the third on the list of three parables of which two we already reflected on yesterday (cf. Mt. 13:44-46).
In this parable, Jesus narrated that the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net which, after being lowered down into the sea, catches different kinds of fish. It is dragged ashore. Afterward, people sit down and begin separating the good ones from the bad ones. The good fish are gathered while the bad fish are thrown away. Jesus further explained that a similar thing will happen at the end of time where the righteous will be separated from the wicked ones. Today’s Gospel ends with Jesus’ parable which speaks of the old and new treasures. A scribe trained for the heavenly kingdom knows how to bring out of his treasures the old and the new.
