24th Sunday of Ordinary Time
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran
On this twenty fourth Sunday of Ordinary time, by our faith in Christ, we have gathered in the presence of our Lord who is Loving, merciful, forgiving, and compassionate God. The Good News Jesus preached was that God is not a cruel, judging, and punishing God. He is our loving and forgiving Heavenly Father who wants to save everyone through His Son Jesus.
In the first reading of today, we discover a God who is faithful to his vows. As a merciful and compassionate father. Moses is imploring a forgiving God to have mercy on the sinful people who have abandoned Him and turned to idol-worship. He reminds God of His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to show mercy to His unfaithful people. God heard the prayers of Moses on behalf of his people God hears Moses’ plea and takes his people back.
Today’s second reading, St. Paul repeats his story of conversion, intending to offer to everyone who will listen. As Saul of Tarsus, a zealous Jew, persecuted the church of God, but not only he forgiven, he is called to be an apostle. St. Paul always contrasts his life before Christ with his life after his Damascus experience. He had been the greatest of sinners, as a blasphemer and arrogant persecutor, God showed great mercy towards him. St. Paul invites us to marvel at the mercy of God and to find hope and help for dealing with our own need for conversion.
In the Gospel reading, the first two parables, there are the common elements of loss, searching, finding, rejoicing, and sharing of the joy. But in the third parable, we see a God forgiving and receiving sinners, the parables tell us about God’s generosity in seeking and receiving the sinner and the joy of the sinner in being received by a forgiving and loving God.
All three parables of Luke 15 end with a party or a celebration of the finding. Since the self-righteous Pharisees, who accused Jesus of befriending publicans and sinners, could not believe that God would be delighted at the conversion of sinners, Jesus told them the parable of the lost sheep and the shepherd’s joy on its discovery, the parable of the lost coin and the woman’s joy when she found it, and the parable of the lost and returned son and his Father’s joy. Besides presenting a God who is patiently waiting for the return of the sinners, ready to pardon them, these parables teach us of God’s infinite love and mercy.
We need to live every day as our merciful God’s forgiven children: Let us begin every day by prayer so that we may learn how to obey God’s holy will by doing good, avoiding evil, and trying to live in God’s presence everywhere. Before we go to bed at night, let us examine our conscience and confess to God our sins and failures of the day, asking His pardon and forgiveness. Let us resolve to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation if we have fallen into serious sins. Let us continue to ask for God’s forgiveness before we receive Jesus in Holy Communion during the Holy Mass. Thus, let us live a peaceful life as forgiven prodigal children, getting daily reconciled with God, our merciful and forgiving Father.
Let us not act like the Scribes, the Pharisees and the elder brother of the prodigal son who hold on to others’ sins rather we should act like Jesus who easily overlooks our faults and forgives us of our grave sins and then welcomes us back. We pray that the mercy of God may find us whenever we miss our track and patiently bring us back to his merciful bosom.
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