Our Sunday Reflection, Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
"...‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance."
In today’s Gospel we hear the Pharisees disparage Jesus for welcoming sinners and eating with them. Jesus turns their criticism on its head by telling them three parables that show how much joy God finds in one repentant sinner. We sinners are welcomed to this banquet today where Jesus provides himself as the meal to share. Let us approach the altar with repentant hearts, thankful for God’s constant mercy.
Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
Again and again today we hear examples of those who turn away from the Lord, who wander away or become lost: the Chosen People in the desert, Saul of Tarsus himself, a wayward sheep, a lost coin, the prodigal son. We see them all lost. But none are ever truly lost because God will always search for them, rescue them, and welcome them back into the fold. With repentant hearts, let us recall those times when we were lost and felt the embrace of God’s mercy.
Reflections
• Jesus appears to have failed Sheepherding 101. Leaving ninety-nine sheep in the desert while trying to find one other is extremely reckless. At best, a shepherd would lead the ninety-nine back home and search for the lost one only once the others were secured. But Jesus is not your typical shepherd. His concern is with the one who is lost, with the one who needs him. And if he comes back with the lost one and finds only ninety-eight, you can bet that he will leave the herd again to search for the one who wandered away. And so on until no more are lost.
• The Good Shepherd looks quite foolish, pursuing a single lost sheep, not knowing what would happen. On 9/11, hundreds of first responders rushed into the burning buildings to rescue those in danger. It may have looked foolish to an observer, putting your own life in danger in a desperate attempt to save total strangers. But this was their calling. Jesus came into this world as our Savior and is now on the road to Jerusalem, getting closer and closer to the mortal danger of his cross. He is doing this for individual people he does not know, for sinners, for people who “deserve” his actions no more than the lost sheep. Yet he does not waver from his calling.
• Though it looks foolish to struggle under the weight of a cross, or to run into danger for the sake of a stranger, or to pursue a lost soul across heaven and earth, we are challenged to do so by the one who accepted a sentence of death in order to rescue a world of sinful people for no other reason than that they were lost and they needed him.
Question of the Week
Who is lost and needs me? Am I willing to help to the point of looking foolish?
-from Pastoral Patterns
readings of the mass
LISTEN HEREto the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, September 11th, 2022, Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
SELECT HEREfor the Readings of Sunday, September 11th, 2022, Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Offerings
The Sunday offerings are a portion of our blessings that we give to God (Church) in gratitude to what God has done for us...ONLINE GIVING OPTIONS
"Everything I have is yours."
Luke 15: 31
Our Heavenly Father gives us everything, including the chance to share in His eternal kingdom. Yet, like the Prodigal Son, we are often lured away by the materialism of our society. Do you really want to turn your back on all that God offers in exchange for material wealth that has no lasting value? God wants us to be happy on earth as well. But, that requires us to freely accept His gift of faith; putting Him first in all things and detaching from our own self-sufficiency.
