Reflections: 24th Sunday Ordinary Time

"This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost."

These are the words we hear from St. Paul addressed to Timothy, and, by extension, the rest of us. We are all sinners, and Jesus came to reconcile us to the Father. How? His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

For our part, we cannot be reconciled to God unless we "rise and go" to our father, as the Psalm refrain says. With the prodigal son, we must first recognize our sinfulness and then pray to God for his mercy.

Even so, it can be difficult, especially in our modern culture, to recognize our sinfulness. We are taught to search for self-acceptance, self-esteem, and to believe the lie that everyone and everything is ok so long as we find pleasure in all the things we do.

Jesus is the good shepherd and is not content to leave behind any of his sheep who wander. He leaves the flock in search of the lost sheep. He loves us so much that he will search high and low and won't stop until he finds us and carries us home upon his sacred shoulders. 

Once we're brought home, God then asks us to be like the woman who lights the lamp in order to search for a lost coin. Christ is the light, and with his light we can help him in the mission of reconciliation which he entrusted to us. We must shine the light of Christ into the darkness and call fellow sinners into repentance.

Every sinner who repents brings great rejoicing in heaven. Why? Because each individual soul, made in the image and likeness of God, is invaluable and God wants us to have a share in His divine life. It is imperative that we do our duty to help everyone we can come back to Christ, starting with our own repentance and confession of our sins.

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