Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
August 1, 2019
Jesus said to the disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then 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.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
Earlier this week, in the Gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus using parables to describe heaven where “the upright will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” But today, more ominously, Jesus forewarns us in very direct terms about judgment day when “the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire.” It is safe to say no one wants to end up where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Yet our current culture detests the very notion of hell and prefers the moral relativism that often defines our present reality. To trust in Jesus’ love and mercy is important, but we sometimes too easily refuse to confront our sins first and answer Christ’s call to repent. Jesus does love us unconditionally and no sin is unforgivable when we approach God with a contrite heart, but we must be willing to ask for that grace.
Like a good parent, God does not want to see us harmed or separated by our own poor choices. We must listen attentively to Jesus’ warning about this place of torment and accept the conversion that is necessary, even seeking God’s grace in the sacraments such as during frequent trips to confession. Otherwise, we risk the loss of heaven and the pains of hell.
We are all sinners, weak and fallen, but through Jesus’ suffering, death, and Resurrection, we have hope for our salvation. Let us keep in mind what Jesus revealed to Saint Faustina: “One thing alone is necessary; that the sinner set ajar the door of his heart, be it ever so little, to let in a ray of God’s merciful grace, and then God will do the rest.”
Prayer
Almighty Father, you know the secrets of our hearts and, therefore, you know that we, too, are capable of doing good and ill. You even know those faults that we hide from others and those which we try to hide from ourselves. Despite this, you never fail to call us to greater heights of goodness and of love. You chose to live among us as one of us in order to raise us up. Grant that our hearts may be made new so that we might enter into your kingdom. We ask this through you son, our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Alphonsus Liguori was born in 1696 in Naples, Italy, the oldest of seven children. He was soon known as a child prodigy—he earned a doctorate in law by the age of 16. At 21 he had his own legal practice and soon became a leading lawyer in Naples.
His law practice immersed him in the world, and he found escape in music and in visiting the sick. While visiting people suffering from terminal illnesses, he felt a distinct call to leave the world and to give himself to God. He began to study theology, even though his family protested, and was ordained a priest when he was 29.
He became known for his clear, direct, and simple preaching, and he would travel to parishes around Naples giving missions. He became a sought-after theologian and writer and founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, in 1750.
He was appointed bishop of an area near Naples, which was marked by uneducated parishioners and apathetic priests. He worked tirelessly to educate the laity and reform seminaries.
As he aged, he suffered from severe rheumatism. Often, he could barely move or even raise his chin off his chest. He spent several years only drinking from tubes because his head was so bent forward.
He endured turmoil within the government and even his own religious order, but persevered through it all. He vowed never to waste a moment of his life and lived that way for more than 90 years. He died in 1787, and nearly 100 years later, he was declared a doctor of the Church, a title given to 37 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example.
Much of what marks St. Alphonsus’ holiness has to do with his use of time. On the one hand, he vowed to never waste a moment of his life, and was profoundly productive. On the other hand, it was in performing a profoundly non-productive work of mercy that he heard God’s call to deepen his life of faith. As a leading lawyer, he must have had many claims on his time, yet he made time in his day to visit those suffering from terminal illnesses. Those visits opened a different horizon to his life.
As the patron of the work of lay people, we can call upon St. Alphonsus’ example and prayer to assist us in using our time well. May we find the balance he achieved between productivity and the “unproductive” works of mercy where we hear the voice of God.
St. Alphonsus Liguori’s relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Alphonsus Liguori, patron saint of the work of laypeople, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Alphonsus Liguori is in the public domain. Last accessed March 28, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
