REFLECTION BASED ON THE READINGS OF THURSDAY OF THE
31ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
BY
MUOGBO
MICHAEL I.
SSPP/THEO/18/0734
Being
a term paper submitted to the department of theology, saints Peter and Paul
major seminary, Bodija, Ibadan in affiliation with Pontifical Urban University
Rome. In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Bachelor’s
degree in sacred theology
COURSE
PRACTICAL
HOMILETICS
LECTURER
FR. DR. FRANCIS
ADEDARA
COURSE CODE
SS/BTH/320
DATE
26/9/ 2020
MUOGBO MICHAEL
Reflection based on the
readings of Thursday in the 31st week in Ordinary Time
God goes extraordinary lengths to rescue
the lost. The grace of salvation is directed toward those who need to be saved.
If anyone is to level a judgment on another,
it must be the judgment of love. What kind of shepherd would leave 99 sheep alone in the
wilderness to find just one which is lost? This is “the mysterious
beauty of God’s love
My dear people of God, the love of
Christ for us is amazing, it knows no bounds. Searching
for the lost sheep of the house of Israel is the principal mission of Christ
and of Christianity. Jesus desires that no one should be lost. In the
gospel of Luke 19:10 He says “the son of man has come to seek and to save what
had been lost”, and in the gospel of John18:9 it was affirmed that he didn’t
loss any of those given to him. Christ cares for the repentance of the sinner,
He says in the gospel of Luke5:32, He has come not to call the just, but to
call the sinners to repentance. Unfortunately,
there is a school of thought in today’s version of Christianity that thinks
otherwise. They insist on over-bloating the rules and demands of Christianity
and they end up scattering the sheep with sanctions rather than gathering them.
The parable of the lost sheep is very
applicable to the great work of man’s redemption. The lost sheep represents the
sinner as departed from God, and exposed to certain ruin if not brought back to
him, yet not desirous to return. Christ is earnest in bringing sinners home. In
the parable of the lost piece of silver, that which is lost is one piece, of
small value compared with the rest. Yet the woman seeks diligently till she
finds it.
Through the two short
parables, Jesus presents the essential nature of our God: benevolent in his
love, generous in his mercy, kind towards the wayward, extravagant in his
celebration when the lost one is found. For God, when it comes to his children,
one is equal to ninety-nine. He does not wish that even one of his children
gets lost. St Paul is one of those who experienced the joy of being ‘lost’ and
‘found’ and so is able to say: “indeed I count everything as loss because of
the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”.
God always seek to find
us when we stray but on our part, we must realize that we are lost and
recognize our need for God and begin the journey home to the embraced of divine
mercy. When God’s offer of mercy is met by our repentance, all in heaven
rejoices. God’s feast is about rejoicing over the repentant sinners. Today the
lord beckons us to be found by him through the sacrament of reconciliation.
Occasionally we may develop a feeling of
self righteousness which may cause us to look down on others for not reaching
the level of spiritual heights that we have reached. Other times we may feel
too conscious of our failings and live in extreme self condemnation; we feel we
have no right to God’s love. However, the gospel of today tells us what makes
God beautiful and different: God does not abandon us when we stray but rather
he does everything possible to bring us back to his love and fold. As
Christians who know the worth of the Father’s love for us, we should sign up
for the attitude of St Paul; we should be ready to count everything as loss
just to gain the love and knowledge of Christ.
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