September 12, 2010
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
"Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’" So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people. Exodus 32:13-14
This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. 1 Timothy 1:15-16
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. Luke 15:20
Piety
The years go by and it almost seems nothing has changed. The Lord is on the back burner now and it seems as if he is not getting the prime time he deserves. Piety becomes more and more nebulous as we see how half heartedly we do the things of the Lord. Consolation seems little and is far between the times of dryness. It is hard to believe that the Lord has chosen us. It is not that we have chosen the Lord. We accept the call and come to recognize the call in the good things we are able to do in life as we reach out for the missing sheep of the gospel story. We are looking for the missing coin. We search the house and when the coin is found, we rejoice. God rejoices in us as we the missing coins of the gospel story are found by the Lord. We could never really get far from him. He is always inviting us to come closer. We are the lost coins he finds.
Study
We take a good hard look at all the ways the Lord is saving us. He calls us by the kind words of a friend calling us back to the straight and the narrow path. He is with us in every good book we have a chance to read that reveals something of the Master’s plan for us. He talks to us through the sermons of the lives of the good people around us who preach by their lives, if not even with their words. He is calling us by the calls to kindnesses that are the opportunities to do good for our neighbors. Our spiritual reading opens our eyes to how we can get closer to the Lord in the actions of our lives. We do not have to be the Prodigal Son of the Gospel story. We can stay close to the Father by the goodness of our lives. The Saints show us the way as they make Christ real by their lives and their goodness. Christ is constantly being updated in our world when we live out the good things about Christ that we study.
Action
We make the choice to return to our Father’s house. We discover that the Father is always waiting for us to come back. The Father celebrates our returning home. We are always God’s children even when we do not deserve to be called such. We take the actions of love. We run out to welcome back our brothers and sisters who had lost their way. We share the best of ourselves. We open up our hearts to those who have seen the error of their ways. The best of all the actions we can do in the name of the Love of Christ is to have a place in our hearts for everyone who would share our journey with us. We join with the rejoicing of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. We enter into the joy of the Lord. Each day we try to recognize a virtue in each person that comes into our lives. The hidden moments of our lives when we do what needs to be done without being asked give us the chance to share Christ without anyone noticing what we do. We live our lives for Christ by staying close to the Father. We become Christ to our world.
