Today, in the first reading, listen carefully to a story you have heard many times. The phrase "he tried again" is important. It is message God gave to Jeremiah as well as to Ignatius of Loyola.

Knowing the pottery process is important. When an object has been made but fails to please, the potter begins a serious program of renewal. The artist destroys the attempted work by squeezing it together into a lump. Before spinning the wheel again the artist flattens the mass of class with heavy pounding that is severe. Why? To remove the almost invisible air bubbles. Once finished, the formation process begins again. Something somewhat different is created ... never exactly the same as its predecessor. But the clay is not lost.

Ignatius Loyola, like Jeremiah, had to be reformed, shaped anew. The air bubbles of sin and mistrust had to be removed from their lives. For Ignatius the pounding was being hit by a canon ball, a shattered knee, several operations and a lengthy hospitalization. Suffering greatly and at times severely to atone for his sins, he accepted all of this, allowing God to remove the air bubbles from his life.

Today we might ask ourselves at least two questions. Do I see myself as clay in God’s hands? Do I need to allow God to remove the air bubbles of a particular sin from my life?

It is through prayer that we answer these questions. For in prayer we move away from kidding ourselves, no easy move. Fr. Henri Nouwen describes the process well. Prayer he wrote, "leads us from false certainties to true uncertainties, from an easy support system to a risky surrender, ... from the many safe gods to the God whose love has no limits."

Ad majorem Dei gloriam!

For the greater glory of God!