17th Week, Thursday, July 28: St. Alphonsa
Jeremiah 18:1-6 / Matthew 13:47-53
We are clay in God's hands; He fashions us like a potter.
Rembrandt was a 17th-century Dutch painter. He is still regarded as one of the world's greatest artists. Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, died in the midst of his career. Following her death, he went into a period of deep mourning, in which he didn't paint at all. Eventually, he resumed painting again. When he did, he painted with new power and passion. Some critics suggest that the death of his wife was a turning point in his career. It transformed him into an outstanding artist. Rembrandt's story illustrates how God can use tragedy to fashion us into something better than we originally were.
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Do we believe God wants to make something beautiful of us? "It
is by those who suffer that the world has been advanced." Leo Tolstoy
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When a ceramic or clay vessel is broken, it is of no use whatsoever. It ceases to be what it is made for and the only thing left to do is to discard it. But when it is first shaped and made, it was meant to be of service and to be used for what it is used for.
It is like what we read in the 1st reading, the potter shapes the clay into the required shape and heat it at high temperatures that lead to permanent changes including increasing its strength and hardening and setting its shape. But just as in the turns and tumbles of life, clay vessels get cracked and broken and they are rendered useless and hence discarded.
The gospel parable also talks about discarding the catch of fish that are of no use. But that is the imagery of the end of time.
Meanwhile, what is there for those people who are cracked and broken? We must remember that Jesus came for them. He came for sinners.
The Japanese have a centuries-old art of fixing broken
pottery with a special lacquer of powdered gold, silver or platinum. The cracks
or breaks are seamed together beautifully with the lacquer, giving the once
cracked and broken pottery a special and unique appearance. We can learn
something from that. And then we can understand why Jesus is called Saviour.
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Jeremiah looks at the work of a potter. If the potter sees his work is
misshapen, he destroys it and tries anew. God’s people are clay in God’s hands.
If they are not faithful, God will break them, but when they are converted, he
tries again with them and they become precious.
The parable about the net full of fish, good and bad, is very close to
the parable heard a few days ago about the wheat and the weeds. It ends with
the statement that the scribe in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a
household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. Jesus
came “not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to complete them.” Therefore
the disciple, when he welcomes what is new, does not reject what is old. He
treasures both.
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Opening Prayer
Faithful God of tenderness and mercy, you want us to be your people on the march with Jesus your Son toward the new future of justice and love of your kingdom. Do not allow us to suffocate in being contented with old habits and sluggish ways. Help us to accept the pain of leaving the familiar behind us and open us to today’s challenge of the gospel to become more like your Son who guides our faltering steps, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Jul 28, Thu
St Alphonsa (1910–1946)
As a child, Alphonsa baptized
Anna, was so fascinated by the life of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux that she set
herself the twin objective of becoming a “nun” and a “saint” through prayer and
penance. Resolved never to marry, Anna planned to disfigure herself by putting
her foot into a big fire so as to foil the marriage plans an aunt who had
brought her up since the untimely death of her mother had for her. But she
accidentally slipped and fell right into the fire! Her recovery from the
resultant burns was followed by due assent from her aunt to fulfill her dream! Anna
joined the Clarist Convent in Bharananganam as a postulant in 1928, taking the
name Alphonsa, received the habit in the year 1930, entered the “novitiate” in
1935, and took her vows in 1936. Illness and misunderstandings dogging her life
and formation, her virtues of steadfastness, concern, and patience stood her in
good stead. When her superiors suggested that she should pray for permanent
relief from her ailments, she answered: “I am ready to suffer not only this but
anything. ….. Let the Lord do with me as he wills, trampling over, wounding or
piercing me, a humble sacrificial offering for the sake of … priests and
religious who are growing less fervent in their spiritual life.”
Alphonsa died just three weeks before her 36th birthday [1946] and was
canonized in 2008.
Reflection: “By your most cruel death give me a lively faith, a firm hope and perfect charity, so that I may love you with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength.” (Saint Clare)
