We must live for the Kingdom of God by being carriers of Good News.

 
Reading: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. Matthew 13:47.
 
Good morning, happy Thursday, and many blessings my dear family.
 
In today’s Gospel passage (Matthew 13:47-53), Jesus tells his disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that is thrown into the sea. Naturally the net collects a variety of species of fish and other objects.  When the net is full, the men haul it ashore.  However, the net typically will collect more than fish, including random objects or species of sea life that were not useful for their purposes.  Thus, when the fishermen brought the net ashore, they had to separate what was good and edible from what was not useful.  Naturally, they discarded what they could not use.
 
Jesus then proposes another analogy.   He tells his disciples: “The angels will separate the wicked from the righteous and the wicked will be thrown into a fiery furnace where there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
 
Jesus speaks in parables, a form of storytelling, to help his words come to life for his followers in everyday language. Many of the disciples were fishermen who spent their lives casting out their nets to draw in the fish. They could understand the method of separating the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’.
 
It is easy for us to categorize ourselves as either righteous or wicked, but I assume that we exhibit a bit of each quality, depending on what is happening in our lives.  However, when we become aware that we are in a “wicked” or unproductive space, we have opportunity to move toward a “righteous” or peaceful space! Living in the kingdom is not easy, there are too many attractions and distractions, and the risk of going astray is always there
 
Life is constantly changing so are we, and so is the Church. Sometimes we have little patience with old ways and customs. But the storehouse of the kingdom contains many treasures. Whatever truly helps people to respond to God is good and not to be despised. We must live for the Kingdom of God by being carriers of Good News to everyone we encounter. We do that by loving one another as Jesus loves us.
 
Today I invite you to be aware and alert!  Forgive yourself if you realize that you are griping, upset, or tense today.  Then consciously move into a peaceful and loving stance.  What do you experience in this process?  Hopefully, you will like the difference.  We can choose our moods and our attitudes!
 
Blessings,
 
Luis+