Word to the Wise
Sunday, July 30, 2017 - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12; Rom 8:28-30; Matt 13:44-52 or 13:44-46]"Again, 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." [Matthew]
I hope that your parish will read the "long" version of today's gospel scripture. The image of the dragnet is the subject of an experience in preaching that I had. Some years ago, the Sacred Heart Brothers in New Orleans invited me to preach a retreat for them. They had the custom of inviting staff members of their schools to join them on the retreat. The style of the retreat was called "the Parable model," in which all the conferences are based on the scriptures of the day. At the end of each day there was an optional group session in which the retreatants could share their own reflections on those scriptures. A lady who worked in their high school on the Gulf Coast spoke to this gospel. She mentioned her uncle who was a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of his competitors were Vietnamese fishermen who had immigrated to our country and continued their trade. The uncle had commented to her that he only kept particular fish that he caught, and threw the others back. But the Vietnamese fishermen, he said, never threw anything back. She then said, "I find myself hoping that God is Vietnamese!" I have never forgotten her preaching or her hope!
My father was an ardent weekend fisherman. He kept a plaque on the wall by his bed that contained a "Fisherman's Prayer" that had a last line praying that he would be "big enough to keep!" I share that hope too. God's mercy is wide and deep and his dragnet is thorough. The choice about what he catches is up to him. The best I hope is that I don't do anything to tear the net. AMEN
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