The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, August 3, 2006
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Jeremiah 18:1-6
Psalm 146:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab
Matthew 13:47-53

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

Some would say that if there is one word which aptly describes the message of Christ it would be love. Why then in today's gospel do we have this vivid description of the angels at the end of time separating the good from the bad, and the latter being thrown into what we know as hell?

Those of us fortunate enough to have had loving parents who did discipline us can recall the entity used to 'set us straight'! It might have been 'time out', a loss of something special, or in some cases a spanking. Were these real? Indeed they were! Is hell real? Just read the gospel! Will anybody go there? We don't know.

Obedience based only on fear is pretty shallow. Even as children we often 'hurt' as much because our parents were upset as we were from the discipline. As adults we usually move into obedience, in general, based more on love. We do not want to commit a sin because we love God.

Where are we in this transition, of obedience based on fear, or based more on love?

- Joan of Jesus, OCDS
(jmurphy at utica dot edu)