The Potter’s Signature
“You are in my hands just like clay in the potter’s hands.” – Jeremiah 18:6
Hidden
in a small town in my province Quezon is a quaint potter’s garden. It’s
the studio cum shop of well-known ceramic artist Ugu Bigyan. This
beautiful setting showcases his high quality pieces that are sought by
the elite and ritzy establishments like Aman Pulo.
I
had the chance to drool over the exquisite, expensive pottery he makes
when I interviewed him for an article. Ugu told me that he is very
strict about the quality of his work. Before putting pottery in the
kiln, he checks each piece and signs it when his standards are met.
When
we come into this earth, we are not yet finished pottery that has been
fired in the oven. Our lives are like unbaked clay. Each experience,
each difficulty is God’s way of molding us to perfection. When we fall,
fail or falter, God turns the wheel to recreate us into finely crafted
pottery. But we have to be pliable enough for Him to mold. When we
surrender everything to God, He will make of us a wonderful creation. In
the end, after a life well-lived, we will bear the Master Potter’s
signature. Lella Santiago (mirellasantiago@yahoo.com)
2
REFLECTION:
Am I supple enough for God to mold in His image? Or has disobedience hardened my heart?
Take me and mold me, Lord, until I am worthy to bear Your mark.
St. Eusebius of Vercelli, bishop, pray for us.
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1ST READING
A
number of hymns have been based on this text that talk about choosing
to go to the house of the potter and allow Him, the Lord, to shape and
reshape our lives according to His will. Sin deforms the life God has
created and we constantly need to return to Him and ask Him to repair
the damage we have done through our ill-considered choices.
Jeremiah 18:1-6
1 This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Rise up, be off to the potter’s house; there I will give you my message. 3 I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel. 4 Whenever
the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he
tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he
pleased. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can
I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the
Lord. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my
hand, house of Israel.
P S A L M
Psalm 146:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R: Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
1 Praise the Lord, O my soul; 2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live. (R) 3 Put not your trust in princes, in the son of men, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his spirit departs he returns to his earth; on that day his plans perish. (R) 5 Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord, his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. (R)
GOSPEL
Just
as lives will be sorted on Judgment Day, so do we have to sort through
our experiences every day and decide which are worth keeping and which
we should discard. There are good and bad influences in the world. It is
our responsibility to select the good ones and use these as the
foundation upon which we build our lives. If we choose the wrong ones we
can be sure that there will be problems later.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.
Matthew 13:47-53
47 Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. 48 When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. 49 Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” 51 “Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” 52 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.” 53 When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
GOSPEL PSALM
TODAY’S
think: Just
as lives will be sorted on Judgment Day, so do we have to sort through
our experiences every day and decide which are worth keeping and which
we should discard.
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LIKE CLAY IN THE HAND OF A POTTER
Obedience
is not a very popular virtue. By nature, we are self-willed beings,
endowed with the gift of free will and intellect. These two gifts make
us humans exactly like angels, who can always say no to God, like Satan
did by crying out, “Non serviam!” (I
will not serve!) For all Jeremiah’s initial protestations, he was
basically an obedient man. He gave in to the Lord’s bidding and obeyed.
This is not to say, though, that it had all been easy for him. It took
some time for the reluctant prophet to reach the point of perfect
obedience.
The
Philippines has more than 64 different varieties of bamboos. The most
familiar ones are those used to build nipa and bamboo huts. These
varieties can be used to build posts, walls, flooring and even roofing. A
whole hut can be made entirely of bamboo and nothing else. Bamboos can
also be made into makeshift bridges. They swing and bend with every step
but they don’t snap. Pliant and supple, they adapt and give way
seemingly to the weight but never break. Other sturdier trees may
succumb to strong typhoons, but not the bamboo trees. Even miniature
bamboos, found only atop Mt. Pulag in Northern Philippines, are among
the few plants that survive the harsh and windy conditions of the
country’s second highest peak. The secret? They bow and bend and
seemingly submit to the external forces bearing down on them.
We
can learn a lesson or two from the lowly bamboo. Their submission,
their obedience, if you will, to external forces, enable them to come
out of the ordeal steady and strong. Sturdier trees that put up a stiff
resistance end up getting broken. Their strength eventually becomes
their downfall. As I grow older, obedience becomes even harder. Pride
and years of experience tend to get the better of me. Jeremiah’s example
is something I sorely need. I need to learn to be like clay in the
hands of the potter. Like Saint Dominic Savio did, who told Don Bosco,
his mentor: “I will be the cloth; you be the tailor!” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB
REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you find it difficult to submit yourself to authority? Learn from the bamboo tree.
Jesus, mold me into a loving and obedient child of Yours so that I may be able to fulfill Your mission for me.
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