The Gospel reading for today on the feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori gives us a good picture of how God gathers in his people. “The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.” Try to visualize throwing one of those huge nets into the sea. What would you be thinking at that moment? Most likely, you would be hoping for a great catch of fish. If the net was overflowing, you knew that your prayer had been answered!
“When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.” Sounds pretty easy and acceptable. Ok, they keep the good and throw away the bad. But, if you take it as referring to people, it sounds and looks a lot different. I guess we need to decide what good means. Does it mean just going to Mass on Sunday? Those of us who are a little bit older may remember being told that if we didn’t go to Mass on Sunday we were going to Hell. Sounds a little strong doesn’t it? But we need to remember that one of the Ten Commandments is to keep holy the Sabbath. Is that just a suggestion? Definitely not!
The priests at my parish spent a lot of time teaching us about the liturgy. For some of us we were hearing it for the first time. The Mass and the Eucharist are the best gifts that we have been given from above. We should go beyond attending and move into really participating. It is good to understand what is going on during the Mass. A former bishop in our diocese told us permanent deacons that the Mass starts with the Sign of the Cross and ends with the Sign of the Cross. In between those two benchmarks we are outside of time and space. We are on Calvary! That may sound radical to some of you. And it was to me when I first heard it. We really need to understand how important this is.
“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.” In my many years of life, I have come across several commentaries saying that Hell does not exist. Scripture is telling us something totally different.
Moving from that thought though, this is all centered around love. The Lord is not attempting to scare us into heaven but rather, is loving us to heaven. I thought for many years that God wouldn’t see me as lovable. That is a lie from the pit of hell. It took me a while to learn that I am lovable and I am loved. I would challenge you to come to a place where you believe it also!
Serving with joy!
Daily Reading
Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Ez 2:8—3:4 The Lord GOD said to me:As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you:be not rebellious like this house of rebellion,but open…
Saint of the Day
Pope Saint Pontian
Pope Saint Pontian, who reigned from 230-235, holds the distinction of being the first pontiff to abdicate.
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