Thursday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time
Homily of July, 28th 2022
Jer 18,1-6; Ps 146; Matt 13, 47-53
Consider this as “Preaching in the time of Pandemic” which is an undeniable undercurrent traversing our General Chapter of Diffinitors.
As always, we inhale the holy breath (even thru our face masks), draw strength and take solace from the Scriptures. And the readings from the lectionary do provide us with metaphors which could provide insights and inspirations as we collectively discern the divine promptings for our Dominican family and the people to whom we are sent to preach.
The image of “clay in the hand of the potter,” [היוצר בי ד כחמר] as offered to us by the prophet Jeremiah, fits well with the integral Dominican formation – from initial to permanent – which has been expressed among the foci of this Chapter. With our 800 years of history, we realize that General Chapters have been healthy instruments to “discuss and decide those matters which pertain to the good of the whole Order” (LCO 405). Yet, the true element for the staying and sustaining power of our Order and our chapters is the abiding and effective presence of GOD, the divine potter, in whose hands we are but objects of clay; He is constantly molding and remolding us, whenever we would turn out badly, and turn us into “another object of whatever sort he pleased.” As a living, dynamic Order, we remain open to the working of God’s hands upon our life and mission.
In today’s gospel, the parables offer us conversations about the basileia ton ouranon [ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν]. The “dragnet thrown into the sea,” the preferred method of fishing in 1st century Galilee, suggests a massive haul. It acknowledges both good and bad in the catch, which are then segregated. An easy reading would consider the “fish” as people, and simplifies the criterion of separation into “good”[kαλά] or “bad” [σαπρὰ].
But that is a business still intended for the angels, at the eschaton. In the meantime, the task of fishing, not only for “good” and “bad” people, but also “good” and “bad” experiences, continues, like our General Chapters, like the multifarious ways in which we have preached, in which we have ministered, in which we have served and led our communities and the people of God entrusted to us. Let our lowered nets be opportunities to learn, to catch “fish of every kind,” to receive the gifts of diverse cultures and perspectives.
Finally, we are drawn to analogy of “the scribe instructed [γραμματεὺς μαθητευθεὶς] in the kingdom of heaven,” more literally, “a scribe who is DISCIPLED.” May our work in this General chapter produce acts which reflect and direct, aspire and inspire us towards “true discipleship in the reign of heaven,” drawn from the storerooms of our persons, our cultures, our intellectual traditions, our contemporary experiences, “the dreams of the old and the visions of the young,” inestimable “treasures both new and old” [θησαυρος καινὰ καὶ παλαιά].
Br. Clarence Marquez, OP.
