Sunday, September 11
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“I will rise and go to my father.”
Reflection
I’d like to call the theme for our readings this weekend, “Mercy and Mission.” Mercy and mission. Because really, if we think about it, whenever we see Jesus extend mercy to someone, whenever we hear about God’s patience or his “relenting” in inflicting punishment (cf. Ex 32:14), or every time we think about today’s parable of the two sons, the intention is not only a matter for celebration but even more, it’s an invitation to a lived response. “Follow me,” “Go and sin no more,” “your faith has saved you; go in peace,” etc.
Thus, God’s mercy necessitates a concrete change or action in us. The Sacrament of Reconciliation doesn’t really do us much good if we want to be reconciled to God, but we don’t really have any intention of amending our lives with the help of God’s grace. Mercy ultimately draws us back to relationship with Him so that we may be filled with joy, and also live that joy.
In our second reading, St. Paul—one of the most important people to ever be “found” by God’s mercy—calls himself the “foremost” of sinners…the worst of the worst. But in recognizing this about himself, he immediately recalls the abundance of grace from the Lord that has since transformed him. He recognizes that he was treated with mercy by Jesus, and for Paul, this is more than enough evidence of the incredible reality of God’s patience (1 Tm 1:16). The conclusion Paul draws for Timothy (and for us) is that if God is patient and merciful with someone like him, who was vehemently opposed to the grace of Jesus, then so too can such mercy be extended to the rest of us. However, if you have ever been touched by God’s mercy in your life—you’re now called to be an instrument or extension of that same mercy for others. The mission is extended to us.
In his humility, Paul has no idea why God would deem him “trustworthy” for such a ministry, but it is precisely because of how powerfully transformed he was by mercy that he became one of Jesus’ most remarkable disciples.
But have we come to recognize the continual need for God’s mercy? Have our lives actually changed as a result of encountering Jesus, or the healing power of his forgiveness? Or are we indifferent or lukewarm to it?
Like St. Paul, the mercy that we “need” is not because we are all inherently depraved or helpless, but rather because mercy from God, the very grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, IS LIFE. When Jesus’ life is alive in us, we are able to live above and beyond what we would simply be able to do on our own strength. Paul became St. Paul because of Jesus living in him (Gal 2:19-20). His mercy necessarily moves us to live in a new way, propelled to live and imitate Christ having been cleansed from sin and from all that is ‘not-God’ in us. Who are the saints? Not holy people who only ever did holy things, but rather sinners who continually embraced mercy. Men and women who were transformed by mercy as opposed to others who never acknowledged a need for it.
Even the ‘lost son’ in our gospel reading who boldly has an experience of mercy first recognized his need for it. He literally needed to leave the pigsty and leave behind the life he chose, just to be in a place where he could receive mercy. Yes, the Father was waiting for him, yes, the Father ran to him—but immediately after the son first recognized his need for new life! May God’s mercy find us and lead us to new life, and may we go out strengthened to be reflections of His mercy for those we meet!
God bless,
Fr. Brendan Foley
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