24th Sunday Ordinary Time
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Cycle C
- Q284: I agree that our Lord came to call sinners, and that he died for our sins and redeemed me. So why do I need "Church"?
- Rejoice ...I have found my lost sheep.
- Q441: Worshiping a golden calf in place of the living God is a crime that heads the list of Commandments. Why shouldn’t those people pay with their lives?
- Q597: Who would be attracted to a reckless Shepherd who puts his flock at risk (Luke 15:1-10) to go after one rebellious lamb?
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Q284: I agree that our Lord came to call sinners, and that he died for our sins and redeemed me. So why do I need "Church"?
Acknowledging that you were "redeemed" by Jesus Christ is one concrete way of agreeing that you are a "sinner" in need of salvation. St. Paul eloquently expressed the great love and patience of God in dealing with him, "the foremost of sinners" in our Second Reading today (1 Tm 1:16). But the offer of love and mercy is just that: an offer. No gift is forced; it requires something from you and me.
The "seeker" of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son is a symbol of God, an unconditional lover who is constantly looking for each of us and inviting you and me to return to covenant faithfulness. All three readings today point to God's patience with his wayward children (Ex 32:14; 1 Tm 1:16) as well as God's festive joy at their return (Lk 15:6,9,24).
Jesus left a sobering reminder in today's parables that we not demonstrate arrogance by taking him for granted. In Luke 15 (verses 7 and 10), he said that the rejoicing by God is over the "sinner who repents." Often overlooked in these readings is the loving support role of a caring and ministering community - the intercession of Moses in the old covenant, and the mediation of the validly ordained priest in the new covenant. Acknowledging our sinfulness is necessary; but repentance - asking forgiveness, making amends, and changing our lives - is the next step. It is through the ministering community by means of the Sacrament of Reconciliation that one hears and knows that he is forgiven, if he first sincerely repents and takes steps to reform his behavior.
"Covenant" is impossible without "Church," the members of that covenant. Jesus empowered that Church, through his Apostles, to minister sacramental healing for our wounded bodies and souls in His name. To detach oneself from this Church and refuse the offer of healing through Christ's representatives is tantamount to spiritual death.
Know Your Catechism! Repeatedly we hear of the joy in heaven over sinners who repent (CCC #545), those who respond to Jesus' invitation and way into the kingdom. God is faithful in his covenant love, and it is this constancy that gave Moses and now gives us the courage to repent and seek forgiveness, and to intercede for others (CCC #2577). Do you seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least monthly, or do you choose arrogance and independence instead?
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Rejoice ...I have found my lost sheep.
How intense the joy of a parent whose little one has wandered off, when the child has finally been recovered, safe and sound! In today's parable, Jesus depicts the joy of a spiritual shepherd who has anxiously sought out and finally rescued a strayed soul.
For a shepherd to save one erring soul is recompense enough. An American Franciscan priest, Father Sixtus O'Connor, had the privilege of saving more than one of the Nazi war criminals condemned at the Nuremberg Trials of 1946.
According to the National Catholic News Service, Fr. O'Connor, who had been a parish priest in Manhattan, served during World War II as a U.S. Army chaplain in Germany. He had studied earlier in universities there and spoke German fluently. It was doubtless because of this fluency that he was retained in service after the close of the war and assigned as chaplain to the Nazi war-criminals imprisoned in the Nuremberg jail while they awaited trial. The prisoners came to respect this man of God because of his realism, faith, serenity and compassion.
Among the prisoners were found men who had held high positions in Nazidom: Baldur von Schirach head of the Nazi youth movement; Hans Fritzsche, deputy minister of propaganda; Hans Frank, Governor of Nazi-held Poland; and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, in charge of the Austrian Gestapo. Through prayer and patient discussion, Fr Sixtus had the happiness of changing the hearts of these four major leaders. Von Schirach, a lapsed Catholic, sentenced to 20 years in prison, returned to devout Catholicism. Herr Fritzche lived to praise the priest in memoirs. Kaltenbrunner was grateful for the priest's defense when the Allied officials called him a total liar. He and Hans Frank made peace with God before they were hanged. Frank, bound for the gallows, offered his life in atonement for his sins. What must have been Fr. O'Connor's gratitude to God at that moment. And on the day that Hans Frank died contrite, how great must have been the "joy in heaven."
-Father Robert F. McNamara
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Q441: Worshiping a golden calf in place of the living God is a crime that heads the list of Commandments. Why shouldn’t those people pay with their lives?
Our First Reading (Ex 32:7-11, 13-14) shows a very “angry” God, who “feels” betrayed by the very people he saved (remember, humans speak of the Divine in “human” terms). Punishment for disobedience to the Torah (Law) regarding idolatry was very severe (see Deuteronomy 13). Nevertheless, Moses pleads on behalf of the people. His intercession basically says, “Lord, these are YOUR kids; YOU saved them. So why kill them now when you promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their descendants would inherit the land?” The appeal is to God’s fidelity to his own word. God heard this worthy appeal, and “relented.”
The lesson is repeated in the Gospel (Luke 15:1-10). God does not desire the death of anyone, but seeks out the lost and the stray, in His desire to keep the flock united. The picture of a rejoicing host of angels in heaven, celebrating over the return of one lost soul to the flock of Jesus, is absolutely wonderful.
So we see in these readings two important things: (a) Intercessory prayers offered humbly are heard by God, and are received favorably by Him; and (b) God desires that everyone be saved, and pursues us until we accept or reject his saving action.
Who do YOU consider the world’s worst “type” of sinner? An abortionist? A terrorist? a child molester? A pornographer? Now the tough question: do YOU intercede for the salvation of those “sinners”? After all, isn’t it God’s will that everyone be saved – including those who seem to have strayed the farthest from the flock?
KNOW YOUR CATECHISM! Are you a finger-pointer, or are you a merciful intercessor (CCC #589)? Conversion comes from witnessing to God’s mercy towards everyone (CCC #545). Learn from Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, who acted on behalf of others (CCC #2635), and imitate their humble intercession. Souls depend on you!
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Q597: Who would be attracted to a reckless Shepherd who puts his flock at risk (Luke 15:1-10) to go after one rebellious lamb?
One of the techniques used a lot by our evangelist (St. Luke) is to balance the stories in his gospel. He will tell a story involving a man, and then follow that with a similar story about a woman. Today provides us with a good example of that method. A shepherd (man) goes searching for a lost sheep; then a widow (woman) goes searching for a lost coin.
The audience must have been dumbfounded, listening to stories from the lips of Jesus about weird and peculiar behavior that is being recognized as wonderful and praiseworthy. Everyone who heard the stories would have concluded that the shepherd and widow were a bit strange or even bizarre in their actions.
Well, the purpose that Jesus had in telling these two stories [and the next one that follows, the prodigal son story] is to provide a portrait of a God whose love for us is far beyond our ability to imagine. Is this God of ours a crazy God, or what? Yes, he is crazy with love for each and every one of us! Did you notice the perseverance of the shepherd and the widow? They did not stop their search until the lost item was found. Jesus is saying, “Our God is just like that. He will never stop loving you; he will never stop seeking your return to the fold if you stray. And the moment you return to your rightful place, joy and celebration will erupt all over the place!”
Jesus has proven his love for us; he cares for us with unconditional love. If you ever doubt that fact, just look at the wounds in his hands, feet and side. Only a crazy God (read “passionate” God) would do that…crazy with love for each of us!
KNOW YOUR CATECHISM! The search by God for lost sinners consists in his constant invitation to each one of us to repent and return to the fold. No one enters the kingdom without that conversion. Jesus has paved the way for our return, showing his boundless mercy by sacrificing his very life for our sins (CCC 545).
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