The Retaining of the Faithful!

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Jer 18: 1-6; Mt 13: 47-53

Today’s Gospel highlights the universality of God’s invitation and the need for our own faithfulness to belong to it.

The Parable of the Net functions as an image for the inclusive nature of God’s invitation. As the net is meant for every kind of fish, it clearly underlines that God shows no preference or partiality in selecting those who will be part of His Kingdom.

However, while the Kingdom seeks to draw everyone in, not everyone is fit for the Kingdom. In other words, our identity as disciples is not merely determined by being inside the net but by becoming the people who actualize the values of the Kingdom.

Thus, while the dragnet shows no partiality in drawing every kind of fish, we show our preference for God by the kind of people we become. If we fail to become the people that God desires, it is we who disqualify ourselves and not God.

Because the separation belongs to God and takes place at the end, there is time for our repentance and conversion. Here, we must note that while the catch is inclusive, the final sorting is selective. Thus, it depends on us to become the ‘good fish’ that will be retained. 

Hence, our goal must not be about securing a place in the net but about becoming the kind of person that God wants us to be. In this sense, our repentance and conversion will be our identity. God’s grace in us bears fruit when we respond to His generous initiative.

Let us pray that we may grow into the faithful people who will be retained in God’s Kingdom.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar