From the Gospel according to Matthew
13:47-53

Jesus said to the disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
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.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

The Net of Love

Today the Lord reminds us that at the end of time there will be a separation between the good and the bad. But this separation won’t be based simply on having been part of the Church or having known the faith, but rather on having truly lived as a disciple of the Kingdom. That is, on having welcomed the message of the Gospel into our hearts and lived each day according to the law of love that Jesus taught us.

The image of the scribe becoming a disciple is, for us, a call to conversion—to move from being scribes who know the law and commandments, to becoming disciples of the Kingdom; in other words, from theory to real life.

Saint John of the Cross said that “in the evening of life, we will be judged on love.”

It will not be enough to have been caught in the net—it won’t be about how much we knew or how much we did, but how much we loved.

Each day, we can fill the net of our life with “good fish”: acts of love, forgiveness, gestures of affection, prayer… and discard the “bad fish”: selfishness, hardness of heart, resentment, judgment, sin… In this way, at the evening of our life, we will have a net full of love and will be true disciples of the Kingdom, found worthy to live in it forever.

Applied to Married Life:

Nacho: Look, Amalia—right in the middle of the battle against marriage and family, Along Came the Conjugal Love Project. Isn’t it just brilliant? A true gift from Our Lady. It’s completely changed our lives… Nothing extraordinary has happened—and yet, everything has!

Amalia: Absolutely. The transformation the Lord has worked in our hearts is incredible. Everything feels new, and at the same time deeply anchored in the doctrine of the Church… I don’t know if I’m explaining myself well…

Nacho: Of course you are. Before, our faith was a bit like the scribes in Jesus’ time—we knew the Catechism, the doctrine, the Church’s tradition… so many things that have built up our souls. But the truth is, because of the hardness of our hearts, we had stayed stuck there—a faith made up of arguments. I feel like the Holy Spirit has completely renewed our spiritual life.

Amalia: It’s true—this Project from Our Lady has brought us renewal, excitement, hope, joy, and so many blessings. But above all, it has allowed us to live out our faith through our vocation and to live the Gospel in the day-to-day life of our marriage.

Nacho: Yes! We’ve gone from a theoretical faith to a faith grounded in real life, and it has become a true treasure. I think we should involve our children… I would love for them to know this Project and for it to help them as much as it has helped us!

Mother,

To love and to serve in all things!

Thank you for revealing to us the treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thank you for bringing the Conjugal Love Project into our lives.

Blessed are you!