Exodus 40:16-321, 34-36 / Matthew 13:47-53
It is very easy to use today's readings to preach a fire-and-brimstone homily about judgement and punishment, repent or burn etc.
But strange that Jesus would use the image of a dragnet.
A dragnet catches everything that is in its way.
The dragnet is such that it does not discriminate.
And that is what the church is like, or should be like.
We find all sorts of people in church - the saintly and the not-so, the straight and the crooked, the talkers and the doers, the quiet and the loud, just to name a few.
And at times, we might wonder why there are those kinds of people in church.
Maybe that's why we say that the church is a mystery.
As we heard in the first reading, the Israelites experienced mystery. In the form of the tabernacle, the Israelites came into contact with the mystery of God.
Similarly, in the Church, we encounter the mystery of God in the people present in the Church.
It is because when we believe in the mystery of the presence of God in the Church, we can then believe that God will cleanse the Church, cleanse each of us, so that we as the Church can be the distinct sign of salvation.
Then, we , the Church, can go forth and cleanse the world.