First Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-6
This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Rise up, be off to the potter’s house;
there I will give you my message.
I went down to the potter’s house and there he was,
working at the wheel.
Whenever the object of clay which he was making
turned out badly in his hand,
he tried again,
making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
Can I not do to you, house of Israel,
as this potter has done? says the LORD.
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,
so are you in my hand, house of Israel.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6AB
R. (5a) Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Put not your trust in princes,
in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.
When his spirit departs he returns to his earth;
on that day his plans perish.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God.
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Gospel: Matthew 13:47-53
Jesus said to the disciples:
“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.
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.”
“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there
NAB
Round and round and round we go, our pliable hearts bending beneath His life-giving hands. We spin and shift and change until we are new again—right there in that confessional, right there on the potter’s wheel.
And it’s easy for a time. It’s easy when the clay is still supple and your heart is still pure. It’s easy right up until the moment that potent dose of reality collides with your elastic soul. Because that’s when the clay begins to harden. That’s when the cracks begin to show and the passion begins to fade. That’s when you become stagnant.
And I wonder what it would be like to allow our souls to linger, loose in His hands. I wonder how beautifully our hearts would be fashioned and how ceaselessly our love would flow.
But it gets me every time—reality. It snatches up my prayer time with a mound of dirty dishes and an abounding list of tasks. It captures my heart with selfishness and occupies my head with fears. It molds me.
But the work of the potter is not yet finished. He will form your hardened heart if you let Him. So, let's allow Him to get to work.
“[L]ike clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.”
He will form your hardened heart if you let Him. So, let's allow Him to get to work.Click to tweet
Seek out confession! It's a perfect way to start over.
Brittany Calavitta is an enthusiastic advocate for a good book, strong coffee, and a hopeful heart. She currently resides in Irvine, California with her hipster husband and overweight Chihuahua. You can find out more about her here.
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