God Rejoices

Today’s Gospel Text: So he told them this parable: 4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.' 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:3-7

Reflection: Seriously speaking; can it always happen that a shepherd will go in search of a lost sheep and then rejoice after finding the lost sheep.

If the shepherd was so concerned about his sheep then why would it sell for either sacrifice or for food or he himself feed on it when there is a family celebration.

The key element is not the truth of this statement and how many are practicing it but rather the great truth that Jesus intends communicating to us:

“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (vs. 7) 

God is seriously interested in our salvation and he sending Jesus into the world was a serious business.

Through this parable Jesus communicates to us that love of us is what brings about rejoicing in heaven; each time we move closer to God as sinful children then it brings about joy to God’s heart.

Many are the hearts that feel the sense of emptiness and loss; some who are spiritual seek solace in some kind of socio-psycho spirituality and there are some who have betrayed the faith of Christ and feeding the flock of Christ with this kind of corrupt food.

There are some who are feeding the flock with eastern meditational techniques and mantra codes to satisfy the lost state and emptiness in the human heart.

There are also some who are the talented who keep the sinners entertained, with interesting stories and anecdotes and thus remain their savior; the lost will lead a lost crowd into interesting distractions.

In the midst of this St. Paul’s words still rings large:      

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent,  because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead." Acts 17:30-31

Prayer:  Lord, I rejoice at your word that you will bring us out from the peoples, and gather us from the countries, and will bring us into our own land; and will feed us on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. (cfr.Ezek 34:13-14)

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Repay

Today’s Gospel Text:    He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:12-14

Reflection: Our monetary world talks in terms of repayment. You pay and in return are repaid.

So also many actions of life including the whole justice system are based on similar principles.

There is a certain kind of logic about this system which cannot be ruled out, some even look at it as scientific and it maybe so.

Jesus is giving us a new measure and new system that will break every kind of logic and the very laws of science. It works on charity that comes from an authoritative source, which is Jesus.

It is a charity that was first practiced by him before he taught it to others. It is a charity that defies every law and ethics practiced by humans.

How can anyone so easily practice this kind of charity without expecting anything in return? Even though we may call ourselves Christian we practice what is contrary to our Christian calling to be generous beyond a certain measure; a measure which beats every human logic.

He who taught it also practiced it to the utmost when he gave himself for us sinful men in unconditional love.

When Christ invites us he invites us to practice charity in our invitation to the unfortunate and less privileged in the banquets we organize but when he practiced it he practiced it in a much more difficult manner. He offered his very self for sinful and ungrateful men who in no way can ever repay him.

No one can repay Christ for what he has done for us by his offering on the cross for our salvation.

The only repayment we can do, and which is no repayment, is a heart filled with love and lips overflowing with gratitude to God for what he has accomplished in Christ Jesus.  Yet these are mere words from our lips acceptable to God when done with a sincere heart.

Prayer:  Lord may I learn from your great sacrifice and seek to be generous with what you have given me.

  

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Receive His Mercy

Today’s Gospel Text:  As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. 10 And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 12 But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Matt 9:9-13

Reflection: What an easy self explanatory passage, how well the story concludes with a punch line: “For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The passage brings out the image Christ as bold and at the same time compassionate towards the rejects and sinners in society.  He cared less for the human program or priorities and sought to fulfill God’s priorities for us.

God’s priority was this: “'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”

God, in his desire to show forth his mercy to the sinful world, allowed Christ Jesus to become the sacrifice.

Has anything changed in the Christian community down the ages? Do we mix around freely with the sinners or the rejects of society? And if we do, then is it with the intention of bringing Christ’s love and forgiveness to them.

On the other hand you have a class of people who go beyond the scripture and every form of true religion. Who assert that, in the first place, you should not identify people as sinners and thus discriminate between them or create guilt in their hearts.

Call it by another name, but the reality doesn’t change; we all are sinners and so every man is guilty of transgression before the holy God.

I abhor such sociological noble thinkers, the superior idiots of our age, whose agenda of rehabilitation is only superficial, external and divisive, achieving only a temporary harmony in the social order.  

The real harmony is the internal and eternal one, which only Christ Jesus can bring about, first by healing the internal wounds of sin and reconciling humans to the creator and his creation.

Prayer: Lord, I am a sinner, for in sin I was conceived in my mother’s womb, help me to live a life reconciled to you and one another. (cfr. Ps. 51:5)

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

We the Enemy

Today’s Gospel Text: "But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. 31 And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. 32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." Luke 6:27-38

Reflection:  In the first place, who wants an enemy? And yet we could have enemies either because we have opened our mouth in truth or correction or because we have been misunderstood.

But wait a minute if we are already beginning to feel righteous about it already. What do you say about situations when we have passed a judgment on others in the name of truth and correction? Then, have we not acted like enemies to others?

What could be still worse; we not being able to see our faults and yet further rubbing salt into the wounds of people whom we have already condemned or hurt. 

Then you also have a situation, wherein you have listened to the grumbling and complaints of one person and then formed your judgment and condemned the other without listening to the facts of the situation.

Continuing in the same process, we could make enemies of people by passing on all sorts of slander and gossip against a particular person, without having an iota of insight into the facts of the case. This our action may at times may even be performed in all sincerity of heart, compassion and love, with extra concern and zeal.

In all this the greatest reality we see is when we reject the goodnews of Christ and walk not according to its demand nor seek it with all our heart, strength and might then we are living enemies of one another too, beside being an enemy of God.

The ignoble passion of Christ's suffering is for us an example of this stupidity and foolish behavior pattern in human beings: He, the most perfect among all humanity, in any age, faced all these wrongs without bending to the lie that they would want to impose on  him.

His example should be an inspiration for his followers how not to repeat the drama of crucifixion and impose it on a frail sinful but yet innocent humans, beginning with the child of the womb.  

Even in our day such type of innocents are still sacrificed at the altar of sacrifice, when Christ the perfect, unblemished sacrificial lamb has already been slain and continually offered at every altar in the Catholic Church. 

Christ’s message of forgiveness is still valid, but let us not become the enemy we tend to become towards others, when we continue adamantly to do wrong and seek not to correct ourselves in the light of Christian truth.

Prayer: Lord, may I not offer any other sacrifice save the sacrifice of Calvary and through it my sinful self transformed by being dead to sin and alive to Christ.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us