Cycle C -Year 1:  

15 September 2019:  Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Exodus 32:7-11

Second Reading:   1 Timothy 1:12-17

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 15:1-32

God, our loving and merciful Father!

There is an alarming persecutions of Christians in some parts of the world but the Christian spirit will live on and overcome the challenges.  Because for us Christians, we don't always have to understand what is going on with our life.  Sometimes, it is better to just enjoy life, trusting always in God's loving care.

This Sunday's Scripture readings proclaim God as a loving and merciful Father.

The evangelist St. Luke tells us three well-known parables from our Lord Jesus Christ.  These are the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin. and the parable of the lost son or more popularly known the parable of the prodigal son.  All these three parables convey the same message of God as a loving and merciful Father to us all.

Let us reflect on the most popular parable of the three, that of the prodigal son, to inspire us in our day-to-day Christian living.

Now the younger son, who asked his father for his part of the inheritance but then foolishly squandered all his share, is a symbol of the person who cuts himself or herself from God through sin.  And we are shown the unhappy effect of sin by what happened to the younger son in the story.  His experience of hunger evokes the anxiety and emptiness a person feels when he or she is far from God.  So the prodigal son decided to return home and to ask his father's forgiveness.

As the story goes, the father does not greet the prodigal son with reproaches but only with immense compassion at what happened to him.  He welcomes his son home and rejoices that the one who was lost has now returned.  The father has his son back, and that is what matters most to him. And in showing forth such love and mercy, the father restores the dignity and worth of his younger son.  In other words, the father gives the son a new life.

Now Jesus said that such is how God deals with us in our own sinfulness.  Like the human father in the parable, God is always waiting for us with open arms, even when we don't really deserve it.  The bigness of our sin doesn't really matter, all we need to do is open our heart and return to the Lord.  And God always hopes for the return of the sinner, and wants him or her to repent.

So in these three parables, Jesus teaches that no one is excluded from God's forgiveness and that sinners can become beloved children of God again when we repent and covert.

The Church teaches that we can return to the Father's love and mercy by means of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in which, by confessing our sins, we put on Jesus Christ again and become His brothers and members of God's family.

Curiously we may also ask... what about the attitude of the older son in the parable who was angry that their father welcomes home again his squanderer-brother?

Well, we should likewise consider that if God has compassion towards sinners who repent, He must have more compassion and love towards those who strive to be faithful to Him always.  Because God loves each one of us in a special way.

For in the Father's house there is no room for jealousy in God's mercy and love.  We know and believe that God is faithful and loving Father to those who follow in His way.

To sum it up, our merciful God does not rejoice in the loss of anyone but desires that all be saved and restored to fellowship with Him.  And that is why the whole community of heaven rejoices when one sinner is found and restored to fellowship with the Lord.

A blessed Sunday to us all.  And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!