From the responsorial psalm: “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. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt13:47-53)
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.”
Jesus continues to teach the disciples about the kingdom of heaven through parables. A treasure buried in a field, a pearl of great price, and now a net thrown into the sea. All of these parables have in common the need for followers of Jesus to see in him the inestimable value over things of the earth. Just as the psalmist recognizes the littleness of human plans as they perish at one’s death, so Jesus guides the disciples and all who would hear him in the ways of eternal life. “Do you understand all these things?” Jesus asks the disciples. They tell him yes. And he replies, “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.” Having heard him, where will Jesus be found in the midst of this day?
God, help me not be disturbed at all today by earthly plans that perish at the end of this life. Instead, let me seek again the buried treasure and the pearl of great price in every opportunity you give me today to praise you for the sake of your glory. You are the potter, we are the clay; your words spoken through Jeremiah make this clear. Jeremiah says of the potter he watches, “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.” Make in me, Lord, a new creation when things turn out badly. “Indeed,” you say, “like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.” Saint Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.