Come home to God’s Mercy
Luke 15:1-32
Today’s Gospel is a story that we are all very familiar with; the story of the prodigal son. Jesus was being criticized for associating with well-known sinners and rebuffed this criticism with three parables. The first was the parable of the lost sheep. He asks what shepherd, having lost a sheep, would not leave the rest of his flock in the desert while he searched for the one missing sheep. He then asks what woman, having lost a coin, would not sweep the house in search of the lost coin. In both cases, Jesus talks about the celebration that would ensue. He says that there is greater joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than any number of righteous souls in no need of repentance.
To help make things clearer, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. One of two brothers asked his father for an advance on his inheritance as it were. He moved to a far-off land and squandered his wealth on debauchery and later found himself impoverished wanting even the slop that was fed to the pigs. The son decided to go home to his father, confessing his sins and asking not for forgiveness, but a position among his father’s servants. When he arrived home his father met him and lavished him with fine things and celebrated with a big feast. The lost son’s brother, after hearing of his brother’s return and the celebration, was jealous of the attention heaped on his brother. His father explained that all that the father had belonged to the brother that was always with him, but that there was cause for great celebration that his brother who was dead was no alive. He who was lost was now found.
The theme that runs through the three parables is mercy. God loves the righteous and rewards them with many gifts of grace and eternal life. In the same way that he finds joy in His obedient children he mourns those who are lost and to whom death awaits. There is indeed great celebration in heaven when lost souls find God; for what father would not celebrate the return of a child from the throes of death?
We are called to be righteous followers of Christ and to grow in holiness through the gift of God’s grace. Those who are on the road to perdition are called to come back with the certain knowledge of God’s love and mercy. We are all called to be those shepherds that search for and rescue Christ’s lost sheep.
In what ways can we be the shepherd of the father in these parables? How do we rescue lost souls and how do we show mercy? God has given each of us gifts that are to be used to fulfill his kingdom here on earth. Perhaps you know your gifts and how they can be shared with the Church. Have you done so yet? If not, why are you waiting for he is calling you? Maybe you haven’t even given this any thought. I’d urge you to spend some time in Adoration and ask the Lord what he is calling you to do. If you are the prodigal son or the lost sheep, then come back and embrace God’s infinite love and mercy. If you are being called to be a shepherd then offer yourself to God being ever mindful of His will. He will show you the way if you ask him and you take the time to sit in silence and listen.
Given the 24thSunday in Ordinary time 2019 AD
Scott Francis Davis, O.P.
