The Supremacy of God's Will

Reflection on Today's Readings, Thursday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time Year II, 30th July, 2020
Texts: Jer. 18:1-6; Ps. 146:1-6; Matt. 13:47-53
The first reading expresses the supremacy of God's will; clay has no will in the hand of a potter, it simply follows the movement of a Porter's hand. Hence, Jeremiah calls on us to allow the will of God to prevail in every sphere of our lives and society.
Jeremiah used the parable at the time that the people of Judah were already out of tune with God; they were like spoilt vessels. He reminded them that potters do rework spoilt vessels into another. He gave them hope that God could still make a new creation out of them. It is in God that we always have hope of better life; God, our maker, remakes us whenever we are not fitted into his predetermined plan for us, but we must allow his will to prevail over us, just as Porter's will does over clay. Everyone of us is like clay in God's hand, he moulds us into beautiful vessels when we submit ourselves to him.
 Jesus Christ, in today's gospel, used a parable to tell us what will happen at the close of age: God will eliminate evil for ever. This tells us that the perfection of God's kingdom will happen at the close of age. Hence, until then we remain imperfect here and now, God continues to form us and reform in as much as we allow his will to prevail over us. Just as clay follows the direction to which it is bent so also we are to follow God's instructions for us to be formed and reformed by him. Here and now we are in the process of becoming and so we have to live in hope of becoming perfect. Everyday we must try to become better and be closer to perfection. This fact is contained in our being pilgrim church; becoming is a journey. In our own case it is a journey of faith, journey of how to perfect God's will in one's own life. Everyday we learn to do the will of God, we learn to keep his words, we learn to be like him.

Lord our God, we pray that may your will reign supreme in our lives and in our world. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke