CLAY IN GOD'S HAND


THURSDAY, SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Jer 18:1-6; Ps 146:2-6; Mt 13:47-53

The Separation of the Good from the Bad

It was Saint Augustine who said that the same divine blows that purify the saints reduce the unjust to dust and ashes. By this, he let us understand that there are no separate measures for the saints and the sinners as pertains to our mortal life here on earth. God does not distinguish between the faithful and sinners when he sends his sun, rain, cold, and heat. Our Lord taught the same lesson. “For He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Mt 5:45. This means that God sends his material blessings to everyone irrespective of our standing with him. Even his graces are given to everyone in Jesus Christ our Lord. The difference lies in our manner of reception of these gifts he gives without favouritism. Some people turn their backs on the gifts and continue to complain about what is given; others use the gifts to increase their desire and power to injure or harm others; others use them to increase their capacity to do good in praise of God. We get the same meaning in the parable of the wheat and the weed; wheat utilises the soil, nutrients, sunlight, and rain to produce good fruits, and the weed uses the same to produce evil fruits. It is all about the inherent structure and orientation of each person.

Our faith in God must inform and enlighten us that God is present everywhere and works through all things to achieve his good purposes. Our reception of the word of God restructures our interior life to align us with divine will in all things. If the word of God or the Gospel is not internalised, we will lack the needed structure and orientation to work in harmony with the Father’s will. Without this harmony, it is impossible to produce good and heavenly fruits. God taught the prophet Jeremiah this lesson in a vivid manner, showing him what the potter does with clay to produce vessels of different shapes. “‘Get up and make your way down to the potter’s house; there I shall let you hear what I have to say.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working at the wheel. And whenever the vessel he was making came out wrong, as happens with the clay handled by the potters, he would start afresh and work it into another vessel, as potters do.” This analogy illustrates what the Lord does with each of us. Consider the effort and skill required to get the clay ready for use. The word of God, as we noted yesterday, causes us interior and exterior afflictions, not directly, but to remove sinful structures, orientations, and desires ingrained within us.

The clay must be without a definite structure to receive a new one. There is no way of knowing the good clay from the bad ones. The good is only recognised through its responses to treatments. Hence, God gives the physical and spiritual treatments to everyone; the good and faithful ones distinguish themselves through their docility under various treatments. Our Lord taught this in his parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use.” The separation is not done standing, for it is a painstaking and thorough process that the Lord uses to separate the wicked from the just. The process and treatments are ongoing; It is a life-long process. Are the events, things, circumstances, and doings of this present life helping us to internalise the Gospel and its values? If yes, then we are becoming subjects of heaven. But if they are bringing the worst out of us, then the fear is that we would end up chaff to be confined to the everlasting fire. May that never be our lot. Let us, with the psalmist, open our hearts to God and praise him for all he is doing in our lives. “My soul, give praise to the Lord. I will praise the Lord all my days, make music to my God while I live.” A life spent in praise of God has no place in the fire of hell.

Let us pray: O God, protector of those who hope in you, without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing is holy, bestow in abundance your mercy upon us and grant that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may use the good things that pass in such a way as to hold fast even now to those that ever endure. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.   

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