Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 18:1-6; Matthew 13:47-53)
Preachers today often speak of God’s “unconditional
love.” Rightly understood, the term
indicates that God only wants human flourishment. Unlike humans, God doesn’t reserve His
affection for some and withhold it from others.
Yes, God has a special love for the poor, but this does not mean that He
does not care as well for the rich.
Yet it seems that some may run too fast with the idea of
God’s unconditional love. They say that
it assures everyone a place in the Kingdom.
They make to claim that nothing anyone does might alienate him or her from
eternal life. A funeral director, who
heard many homilies about God’s mercy, said that universal salvation was one of
the results of Vatican II.
But, of course, the bishops at the Council arrived at no
such conclusion nor could they do so today.
It would counter Jesus’ teaching in this mass’s parable of a huge catch
of fish. Some of the haul were good and
are prized. Others are bad and discarded. A theologian once said that we cannot know if
everyone will be saved but we can pray for it.
We also might pray that people who do evil will turn from their misdeeds
and make amends. And while we are at it,
let us also pray that we church-goers may be forgiven our many sins.
