They put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away

1 AUGUST (Mt 13,47-53)

In the Old Testament there are some prophecies that reveal the call to all peoples to the true faith. However, this vision of the God who is the God that wants to be worshiped by every man on earth, finds it hard to make itself the mentality of faith for all the people of the Lord. Yet the prophecy of Isaiah also breaks the rigid scheme of priesthood, a ministry and honour intimately reserved to the sole family of Aaron.

Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her; Exult, exult with her, all you who were mourning over her! Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, That you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts! For thus says the Lord: Lo, I will spread prosperity over her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent. As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap; As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort. When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bodies flourish like the grass; The Lord’s power shall be known to his servants, but to his enemies, his wrath. Lo, the Lord shall come in fire, his chariots like the whirlwind, To wreak his wrath with burning heat and his punishment with fiery flames. For the Lord shall judge all mankind by fire and sword. and many shall be slain by the Lord. They who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the groves, as followers of one who stands within, they who eat swine’s flesh, loathsome things and mice, shall all perish with their deeds and their thoughts, says the Lord.

I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the Lord in clean vessels. Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the Lord. As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make Shall endure before me, says the Lord, so shall your race and your name endure. From one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the Lord. They shall go out and see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me; Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be extinguished; and they shall be abhorrent to all mankind” (Is 66,10-24).

In the New Testament this revelation becomes a reality, the essence of the mission of Christ, which is the mission of the Christian. The net thrown into the sea is the kingdom of God, the sea is the world. The fish are men who appear in it. This is the mission that the Lord has entrusted to his Church: making every man, of every race, people and tongue and nation his disciples. Excluding one man from the kingdom of God is patently contradicting, but also with a gross negligence, the universal saving will of God.

Again, 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.

The Church is this huge net that crosses time and places within which everyone can merge: good, bad, just, unjust, wicked, idolaters, saints, sinners, true, false. As long as time lasts it is always like this. Willing a Church of just pure is not only an impractical desire, but also in clear contradiction with the statutes of the realm. This is a heresy that always occurs in the minds of many. The Church must welcome everyone. She must give everyone the grace and truth. Only at the end of time, when the new heavens and the new earth will come, and at the time of death, the great separation that will be eternal will take place. Those who walked in the truth shall go into the everlasting habitations. On the contrary, those who persevered in evil will end up in hell forever.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints give us this most pure faith.