Ps 51

1 Tm 1:12-17

Lk 15:1-32

My Dear People of God, our readings today are full of covenants that are broken. But what is striking in all the readings is that these covenant do not remain broken, they are renewed. In the first reading, the people hurt God and break the covenant, but God renews it. In the gospel, a coin is lost but does not remain lost forever. It is found; a sheep is lost, but is found; a son is lost, but does not remain lost forever. He is found. In the gospel Jesus uses the metaphor of a coin and a sheep to represent lost relationships and calls on us not to give up on those relationships.  We look for a lost coin because regardless of the fact that it is lost, the coin is not useless. There is still something good in the coin. It still has value. We look for a lost sheep because regardless of the fact that it is lost, the sheep is not useless. It still has value. Can you imagine what Christianity would have missed if God did not search for St. Paul, who tells us in the second reading that he is the first among all sinner? God searched for St. Paul because he knew that regardless of the fact that Paul was a lost coin, a lost sheep, Paul still had something beautiful in him that was yet to come out.  

The parable of the prodigal son, in addition to revealing the unconditional love that God has for all his sons and daughters, teaches us that no human being is totally sinful and no human being is totally righteous. I think in some sense, each one of us has some characteristics of both the elder child and the prodigal son. There are times we are like the prodigal son, but there other times that we are also like the elder son, times when we listen and do as God wants us to do. The good news in the gospel is that God’s love for us does not depend on what we do or fail to do. When you are at your best, God loves you, when you are at your worst God loves you. We are the lost sheep that is found. This means every human being can be lost but every human being can also be found. If that is the case why do we give up on people? The question I ask myself today is “do I love people only when they are at their best? Does my love fail when people hurt me?

Beloved in Christ, it's those who are closest to us who will offend us. It is your husband who will offend you. It is your wife who will offend you; it is your children who will offend you; it's your parents who will offend you; it's your family, friends, your teachers, your students, co-workers, and parishioners etc, who will offend you. But it is also these people that we find most difficult to forgive because we have given all our lives to them; so when they offend us it hurts so badly. Maybe you have tried to forgive and the person does not change so you have given up. Forgiveness is like searching for something. It calls for persistent.  My brother, my Sister, true Love is not possible without forgiveness. Has anyone hurt you? Have you given up on anybody? Then you have a lost sheep, have a lost coin. God is asking you to search for them. Will you do it?