The Net Thrown into the Sea
In Volume Two of his exhaustive series on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis describes the sorting process at the end of the age as very concrete. Also as a simple process of means of distinguishing between the “beautiful” and the “rotten.” The fish that are useable and those that “stink” of decomposition or defects. He likens the discernment of the angels who are charged with the task of sorting to the skilled fisherman. He who knows what is healthy and marketable and what must be thrown away.
Selection
I have had reason to reflect lately that it is a good thing we are not in charge of the judgment at the end of the age. It would be all too easy for me to find someone else’s peculiarities smelly and obnoxious. But I don’t know the other’s history or his or her traumas. I don’t know what makes him or her behave in a certain way. I won’t know unless I make the effort to get to know him or her. Or, unless I am willing to work with him or her. Or until I can remember that every person is made in the image of God. And has a truth to speak. How do I do this when being with that other makes me uncomfortable, and causes me anxiety? How can I get past the barriers between myself and someone else? What “stinks” for me may be part of the essence of how God created someone else.
The Potter’s Wheel
The prophet Jeremiah helps us here. “Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again…” We keep trying. When it turns out badly, we step back and reflect, and we try again. God reminds the prophet that he can do the same to the people of Israel as the potter is doing to the objects of clay. He does the same with us every day. And so, we continue to try to reach the other person. And if we fail, we make the attempt again, with God’s help and without judgment.
