{"id":588,"date":"2014-07-31T07:31:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T12:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=588"},"modified":"2014-08-11T08:30:39","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T13:30:39","slug":"the-zero-sum-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=588","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Let Go of the Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time<\/span><\/h2>\n

St. Ignatius of Loyola<\/span><\/h2>\n

Jer 18: 1-6; Mt 13: 47-53<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is pretty clear in today\u2019s readings, that God doesn\u2019t intend to throw us away the first time we make a mistake, or even the second or third or any other time we make a mistake.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He is relentless in His efforts to reshape us, just like the potter in the first reading.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

God is mostly interested in our Faith in Him, and our resolve to repent and to do better.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It is never too late for us to accept His guiding hand as long as we have life in us.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let me pause and pose this question.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Just what is God trying to fashion with your clay these days?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps you had a vision of what that was going to be some time ago; and you think you have been cooperating with God.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But somehow things have changed, and now you feel conflicted.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>More likely, perhaps an old dream, an old image, just doesn\u2019t fit the mold any more.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let me give a few examples.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>People get married, and assume that God is shaping them to raise a family.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But divorce and death happen sometimes in these families; and then later on in life, the children are gone and you are an \u201cempty nester\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And then, some people pursue certain paths in life but then they find them interrupted by illnesses or overwhelming responsibilities forced on them, like caring for elderly parents or grandchildren. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>When those things happen to you, are you still trying to shape yourself into that first image?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Or are you open to a newer one; the one that God is working on for you now?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I think it is important for us to ponder that because what was good for you a decade ago or even a year ago, is not necessarily good for you now.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>God may be shaping you for something else.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the Gospel, we heard the parable of the fish.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus explains that at the end of the age, angels will separate the bad from the good.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, we coexist with the evil in this world, and we always will.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And the environment we live in will be affected by that evil every now and then, causing us to adapt to the changing environment to survive.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Things like death, illnesses, and separation happen to all of us.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Some things are caused by the evil in the world; but others are just due to the passage of time.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It can be a mistake not to respond to a call to adapt to these things.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And even though that shakes us out of a comfort zone, it may be that something more wonderful lies at the other end if we trust in God and let Him reshape us.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus says something very interesting at the end of the Gospel.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He says \u201cThen every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>For weeks now, you have heard gospel parables on the Kingdom of God.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You have been instructed.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But you need to respond to both the new and the old.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Let the heavenly potter shape you accordingly.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time St. Ignatius of Loyola Jer 18: 1-6; Mt 13: 47-53 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 It is pretty clear in today\u2019s readings, that God doesn\u2019t intend to throw us away the first time we make a mistake, or even the second or third or any other time we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[296],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":595,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}