FOCUS ON FINDING
Jesus Christ "welcomes
sinners and eats with them" (Lk 15:2)... Our Eucharist is powerful! Jesus
still welcomes us and eats with us, bringing great joy to our lives!
In the Responsorial Psalm we
acclaim: "I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the
land of the living" (Ps 27:13). Seeking Jesus, we ask to dwell in the
house of our heavenly Father and to live in His Kingdom for all eternity. God
knows the human heart and He can enter it as He wills. It is for you and me to
wait with patience, with longing, and with love. Let us do this with joy in our
hearts, daily!
Jesus tells two parables in
today's Gospel. We hear, "I have found my lost sheep" and the woman's
exuberant exclamation, "I have found the coin that I lost" (Lk 15:6c,
9c)! The focus is on the finding, not on the losing. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus
preaches and practices by means of bringing "glad news," not
"sad news." Far be it for us to imitate the Pharisees who complained
that Jesus Christ "welcomes sinners and eats with them" (Lk 15:2). It
is better that we are among those who increase the joy of faith and know the
power of repentance and prayer.
"I confess...that I have
greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in
what I have failed to do" (Confiteor). Our Eucharist is powerful! Jesus
still welcomes us and eats with us, bringing great joy to our lives! St. Paul
tells us that "None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.
For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so
then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's"(Rom 14:7-8).