Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 31, 2025 - Thursday in the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 40:16-21, 34-38 and Matt 13:47-53]"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]
JULY 31 ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, S.J.
I once preached a retreat for some Brothers of the Sacred Heart who ran several high schools in the South. They would invite some of the high school staff to attend as well. In an evening session in which there was group reflection on the gospel scripture of the day (the one for today), a lady shared that her uncle was a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico. His "competitors" were often Vietnamese fishermen who had immigrated to the USA in the aftermath of the war in Vietnam. He told his niece that he only kept a certain kind of fish in demand but the Vietnamese fishermen kept everything they caught. She said she was hoping that God is Vietnamese!
The Gospel According to Matthew has several parables warning of the "separation" at the end of time. In addition to the one today about the fish, there is the "wheat and chaff" parable (Matt. 13:24-30) and the final judgment (Matt. 25:31-45). These are sober warnings that are easily forgotten in the heat of violence and oppression that are so rampant in our world right now.
My father was an avid weekend fisherman. We kids once gave him a plaque with a "Fisherman's Prayer" on it. The last lines say: "God grant that I may live to fish until my dying day, and when it comes to my last cast, I then most humbly pray; When in the Lord's safe landing net I'm peacefully asleep, That in His mercy, I be judged good enough to keep." Me too! AMEN