“Being Shaped as God Pleases” by Beth DeCristofaro

“Being Shaped as God Pleases” by Beth DeCristofaro

Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

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. (Jeremiah 18: 3-6)

Jesus said “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. (Matthew 13:47-50)

Piety

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God.  (Communion Antiphon, Mass of the Day)

Study

Reading the Gospel and words of Jeremiah might suggest to well-meaning Christians that there are those of us who “please” God, those of them who are “bad” and that we know who and what they are.  And many times, we act on this, creating rigid systems or judgmental tenets of faith which define them and us.  If we discern with the eye of God, however, there is a different message.

God is the potter.  God and the angels are the sorters at the seaside.  God tries again when the object on the wheel turns out badly.  God loves what is created and God fashions in love.  God doesn’t ask us to scrape the wheel and dump out the malformed clay.   It is the Divine Potter whose hands are applied with justice and mercy that shapes, reshapes and loves so deeply.

The image of the fishnets being sorted of their catch is powerful and final.  I imagine that plastic bags, cigarette butts, lost cases of heroin, discarded tires are thrown into the trash along with any creatures who wriggle again and again to get away, biting the gentle hands of the angels.  But any other creatures who are deformed, bad fishers, fierce predators or others true to the nature God imbued in them, even if we have placed negative connotations on their activities, are lovingly added to the ranks of the good.  We are asked to help build God’s Kingdom not to tear down.  We are asked to discern God’s nature within us not create it in our image.  We are asked to love, care for one another and act on that love.

Action

“By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us.  We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, when in fact we live steeped in its’ burning layers.”  (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin).  Swimming in or diving through fecund ocean waters give us a sensual idea of de Chardin’s quote.  Are we open to the vivid life, burning layers of God’s presence around us including situations or people we for whom we don’t particularly care?  Spend quiet time with God, letting God shape you to be aware of this moment.  Spend time with another person giving thanks for their unique and precious existence – even if crooked and lumpy.  Allow her/him to tell you of God’s presence within whether she/he knows how to name God or not.