The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, September 7, 2006
Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
1 Corinthians 3:18-23
Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
Luke 5:1-11

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

A person might find the themes of the readings for today a bit confusing and/or disheartening, but the lessons to be learned are of special significance. All of us have been gifted special talents by God, and most people try to develop those talents as a means of earnng a living and to help others. We see that with the fishermen in the gospel. Simon and the disciples had been up all night "working hard" as Simon Peter stated, trying to catch some fish, but to no avail! Then Christ asked Simon to lower the nets in a certain spot and they caught so many fish that the nets were breaking. (see Luke 5:1-11)

What is the lesson here? We can turn to the first reading for help. Here we learn that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God!" (see: 1 Cor. 3:18-23) This is reinforced in today's Psalm 24: "To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it."

We do not own our talents. We are merely, but importantly, stewards of our body. We can do nothing of lasting value ourselves, but oh so much more if we work to develop our talents and let God work through us for the betterment of the Kingdom! It requires an ongoing, day to day commitment, based on a strong faith! (Faith is the key element here!) Only then can things happen that are of a lasting value!

"Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven!"

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