WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:05.599 Have you ever watched a master potter at work, someone who works with clay? 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:07.440 It's pretty mesmerizing. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:16.480 He takes what looks like nothing more than a lump of wet clay, places it on the wheel, and then with incredible patience begins to shape it. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:20.000 His hands press, pull, smooth, and reshape. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:23.359 Slowly something beautiful begins to emerge. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.079 But then something unexpected happens. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.079 The vessel collapses. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:32.479 Maybe there was an air pocket, maybe the walls became too thin. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:34.479 Maybe the shape wasn't right. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:36.000 So what does a potter do? 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:38.079 Well, he doesn't throw the clay away. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:40.079 He simply starts again. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:44.799 That's the image God gives us today in the first reading from Jeremiah. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:50.479 He says, Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hands. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:55.039 But notice something beautiful, God isn't working with finished products. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:58.320 He's working with unfinished people. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:01.039 That's every single one of us. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:05.760 Sometimes we imagine holiness means never making mistakes. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.480 Well the saints would tell you otherwise. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:11.359 Holiness isn't about never failing. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.719 It's about never refusing the potter's hands. 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:16.879 Think about Simon Peter. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.640 One moment he's professing that Jesus is the Christ. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:24.719 The very next moment Jesus is saying, Get behind me, Satan. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:28.159 Later he promises he'll never abandon the Lord. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:31.599 Just a few hours later he denies him three times. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.239 If anyone looked like a cracked vessel, well, it was Peter. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:38.879 And yet Jesus didn't throw him away. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:40.640 He reshaped him. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:46.079 The same fisherman who failed became the rock on which Christ built his church. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:49.599 God specializes in beginning again. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:52.640 That's why the church gives us confession. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.079 The confessional is the potter's workshop. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:03.280 We bring him the broken pieces of our lives, and instead of discarding them, he reshapes us with his mercy. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.640 But there's another side of today's reading. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:09.439 Clay has to remain soft. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:14.400 Because once clay hardens, it's very difficult to reshape. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:18.400 That's the same, that's the truth with spirituality. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:30.479 Every time we refuse God's grace, every time we justify our sins, every time we make compromises, every time we ignore his voice, our hearts become harder and harder. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:33.680 Not all at once, but little by little. 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:41.120 That's why Scripture so often says, If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:48.319 God can do extraordinary things with a humble heart, but he cannot force an unwilling one. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:54.639 Now, if we turn to the gospel, Jesus speaks about a fishing neg, gathering fish of every kind. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:58.080 At first everything is gathered together. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.879 Only later comes the separation. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:05.599 Again, here Jesus is reminding us that there will be a judgment. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.400 The point isn't to make us afraid. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:12.960 It's to remind us that our lives are moving towards a destination. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:16.879 One day each of us will stand before the Lord. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:19.599 Death is the great equalizer. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:24.159 But on that day, the question won't be whether we were successful. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:34.319 It won't be whether we had any fancy titles or whether you were wealthy and had a lot of influence, even if you even being admired. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:36.960 No, the question will be very simple. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:42.159 Did I allow God to shape me into the person He created me to be? 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:49.039 At the end of the gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, Do you understand all these things? 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:50.960 The answer, yes. 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:53.759 I always smile when I read that. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:58.639 Because if you keep reading the gospel, it's obvious they didn't understand everything. 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:00.400 And neither do we. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:01.280 Why? 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:08.479 Because the Christian life isn't about having all the answers, it's about trusting the one whose hands never stop working. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:15.680 So today, maybe the Lord is pressing gently on areas of your life that you may resist. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:18.720 Maybe he's asking you to forgive. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:22.160 Maybe he's showing you some very hard truths. 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:36.639 Maybe he's asking you to pray more faithfully, to return a confession, to let go of resentment, to really look at those sins you keep falling into, to trust him with a future you can't yet see. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:46.560 Don't resist the potter's hands, because the hands that shape us are the same hands that were stretched out on the cross. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:52.160 Those nails pierced his hands, knowing exactly what they were doing. 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:55.439 And they are not finished with you yet. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:00.879 The Lord is desiring to shape you into the disciple that he's calling you to be. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:01.839 Amen.