September 11, 2016

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14; 1 Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-32
Am I progressing in my spiritual life? Most often the response in NO…but am I better than I was five years
ago? What do I mean? Am I better in being patient? Am I better in listening? Am I better in feeling
people’s hurt? Am I better in forgiving? Am I better in caring? Am I better with holding back my
‘tongue’? Am I better? The common response would be ‘kinda yes’. The only way ‘being better’ happens
is by God’s total Grace…His daily Help. This is a very fruitful meditation for each of us. The readings
today show samples from God’s side and from other’s stories that we can identify with.
In the first reading from Exodus, Moses is going up Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. While up
there the Israelites grow impatient and turn to another deity, the ‘golden calf’ for help. The people want
what they want and are no way grateful for all God has done for them in freeing them from the slavery in
Egypt. Moses ‘persuades’ God to remain gracious and merciful. I look at myself and realize the countless
times that God has shown His mercy in helping me, forgiving me and leading me closer to Himself. He is
never ‘getting even’ with my unfaithfulness but picking me up so I can be loved and hugged by Him.
“Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude ….And more gratitude” was Msgr. Chet Michael’s constant reminder to me.
And I am grateful to him, my spiritual director for this.
In the second reading, Paul looks back at his own life and expresses his own ‘thanks’ for God’s total mercy.
Paul tells how he was so set in his ways and so convinced that ‘his way’ was the only way. He goes into his
dark past and shows how he fought with God and persecuted this new group of Christians to eliminate them
‘from the face of the earth.’ God not only forgave Paul but chose him to be His instrument of preaching His
mercy and love. So often I wonder how God can continue to forgive me for the same old sins that I keep on
doing. I have an extremely hard time in forgiving myself…God never does. Paul constantly shows this in
his letters but perhaps never as beautifully as in today’s letter to Timothy. He says, “I am grateful…because
God considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry…I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of
ignorance…the grace of our Lord has been abundant. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am
the foremost…I was mercifully treated and Christ Jesus might display all His patience as example for those who come
to believe in Him for everlasting life.” I see and hear in Paul’s story examples of my own…Praise God.
Luke shares three parables Jesus’ uses to counteract the Pharisees and Scribes complaint about His paying
attention to tax collectors and sinners. These are the ‘lost’ parables because they emphasize God’s
magnanimity (which Aristotle calls the “crowning virtue”). How many times have I been ‘lost in my
sin’…’lost to God’s constant presence’ in my life…I have been ‘lost’ but never to God…praise God!
Then Luke continues with the very popular and well known Prodigal Son parable. For anyone who has
come to my office or been to my home has seen my favorite painting, Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal
Son. It is not in a hidden place but one that my chair faces so I can meditate and be filled with the richness
of God’s love and mercy. I have a number of favorite books and love to read. At the top of the list is Henri
Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son, A Story of Homecoming. I am so much richer for having this
close by and leafing through the pages. Recently I have been attracted by the ‘sub-title A Story of
Homecoming. The ‘father’ is God and in the parable is never concerned about Himself. He does not want to
be ‘in control’ of things. His children are His only concern and you can tell in this beautiful portrait that the
father is constantly giving and giving of Himself. The parable calls me to BE the Father. Fr. Nouwen calls
this ‘spiritual fatherhood? In Luke 6:36 Jesus says “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” In Mathew
5:48, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “So be perfect, just as Your heavenly Father is perfect.” The question
is, if I am called to be the Father, how am I to do this?
I take exerts from Fr. Nouwen’s conclusion chapter, Becoming the Father.
“Looking at Rembrandt’s painting of the father, I can see three ways to a truly compassionate fatherhood: grief,
forgiveness, and generosity. It might sound strange to consider grief a way to compassion. But it is. Grief asks me to
allow the sins of the world—my own included—to pierce my heart and make me shed tears, many tears for them.
There is no compassion without many tears. If they can’t be tears that stream from my eyes, they have to be at least
tears that well up from my heart. When I consider the immense waywardness of God’s children, our lust, our greed, our
violence, our anger, our resentment, and when I look at them through the eyes of God’s heart. I cannot but weep and
cry out in grief…This grieving is praying..I am beginning to see that much of praying is grieving. This grief is so deep
not just because the human sin is so great, but also—and more so because the divine love is so boundless.To become
like the Father whose only authority is compassion, I have to shed countless tears and so prepare my heart to receive
anyone, whatever their journey has been, and forgive them from that heart.
The second way that leads to spiritual fatherhood is forgiveness. It is through constant forgiveness that we become
like the Father. Forgiveness from the heart is very, very difficult. It is next to impossible. Jesus said to His disciples:
‘When your brother wrongs you seven times a day and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I am sorry,’ you must
forgive him.’ I have often said, ‘I forgive you,’ but even as I said these words my heart remained angry or resentful. I still
wanted to hear the story that tells me that I was right after all; I still wanted to hear apologies and excuses; I still wanted
the satisfaction of receiving some praise in return—if only the praise for being so forgiving! But God’s forgiveness; it
comes from a heart that does not demand anything for itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking…
The third way to become like the Father is generosity. In the parable, the father not only gives his departing son
everything he asks, but also showers him with gifts on his return. And to his elder son he says: ‘All I have is yours.’
There is nothing the father keeps for himself. He pours himself out for his sons. This is not the picture of a remarkable
father. This is the portrayal of God whose goodness, love, forgiveness, care, joy, and compassion have no limits at all.
Jesus presents God’s generosity by using all the imagery that His culture provides, while constantly transforming it. In
order to become like the Father, I must be as generous as the Father is generous.”
So I reflect on:
• Living The Word, shares these questions: How often do we—like the Pharisees, scribes, and older son—think
that someone does not deserve such generous mercy? How often do we think that our sin is too great to forgive?
Such narrow vision can blind us to God’s mercy. As Pope Francis likes to remind us, God never tires of forgiving us.”
• What keeps me from feeling that I don’t need to repent?
• Yelling and screaming (in sermons it’s called ‘fire and brimstone’) is always easy to do…preaching God’
love and forgiveness and living it is always difficult but never forgotten.
• I think of the times that that I felt like the prodigal son in my relationship with Jesus.
• When I have sinned, did I feel that God was there welcoming me back? He does that…and He’s trying to
draw me back from sin too.
Sacred Space 2016 says,
“Jealousy rears its ugly head as the Pharisees listen to the words of Jesus. They do not like the fact that Jesus
welcomes everyone unconditionally. No judging, no condemnation. In Him is found pure love and acceptance. Jesus,
You welcome all into Your warm embrace. When we are lost, You come to find us. When we are in despair, You come
to lift us up. When we feel forsaken, You remind us of Your great love for each one of us. Thank You for loving us just
as we are.”