Sunday, 24nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Lk 15:1-10
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So to them he addressed this parable.
“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’
I tell you, in just the same way
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance.
“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one
would not light a lamp and sweep the house,
searching carefully until she finds it?
And when she does find it,
she calls together her friends and neighbors
and says to them,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’
In just the same way, I tell you,
there will be rejoicing among the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.”
REFLECTION:
A hope for every sinner
The three reading that we heard in our liturgy today talks about unfaithfulness and mercy. In our first reading, the Israelites are growing impatience regarding the absence of Moises create in themselves a golden calf. They have broken their covenant with God with a serious act of idolatry. The Lord accounted that the punishment of this “stiff-necked people is their own destruction. However, the mercy of God prevails over the offenses of the Israelites. God forgives his people not because they deserve to be forgiven, but out of pure mercy and moved by Moses' intercession. Thus God's forgiveness and the people's conversion are divine initiative.
In the second reading, we hear about Paul thanking God for having chosen him to serve. We know that Paul was before a persecutor of the early Christian and was later converted to Christianity. He never forgets his sin in the past, and remembers how he was forgiven through God’s mercy. He had the feeling that he had chosen Christ, but always that Christ had chosen him. He views his life like he was heading straight for destruction and suddenly, Jesus brought him to his senses. The experience of having encountered Jesus Christ and of being saved by him leads to thankfulness. It was through God’s mercy and grace that he has been forgiven.
In our gospel, we hear about the father who has two sons. The younger son is a volatile, impatient, easily bored, ready-to-try-everything teenager. He collects his inheritance, goes abroad to see the world, and squanders his birthright in loose living. But the worst thing is that, according to the law during their time, the sons can live off from the father but the property remains in his hand. It is only during the death of the father that the son gets their inheritance. Therefore the request of the younger son was very irregular and deeply disrespectful against his father. He committed a grave mistake but later came back to his senses and realized his wrong deeds.
All of us seek happiness and satisfaction in life, but most of the time we fall into sin. We fall into the trap of temporal happiness of this material world. Sin promises us a life of happiness, satisfaction and excitement but in the end all we get out of it is misery, wretchedness, dissatisfaction, depression, and a loss of the sense of personal dignity that belongs to us as God’s children. Sin breaks our relationship with God. The good news is that no matter how deeply the sinner sinks into sin; there is always a still, silent inner voice within us inviting us to come back to our Father’s house where true freedom and satisfaction is to be found. We need to get back in our consciousness and recognize our failures before we can truly patch up our severed relationship with Him. God is willing to do just about anything to bring back someone who is lost!
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