12.09.2004 24th Sunday Ordinary Season - Year C
First Reading: Exodus 32,7-11,13-14 Psalm 51
Second Reading: I Timothy 1,12-17 Gospel Reading: Luke 15,1-32
"Have mercy on me God… blot out my transgressions"! This prayer in
psalm 51 could summarise the message in the three readings: man is a sinner,
God is merciful: man ruins his life with his sins. God wishes to repair the
consequences of these sins; man tries to escape God, who looks for him in order
to remind him of His mercy and He knows that we are incapable of saving ourselves.
God reveals the seriousness of the people's sins to Moses: they deserve destruction,
but Moses who receives this revelation, shows that he has understood the mercy
of his God: he intercedes for the people and reminds God of His promises and
invokes pardon. And once again, God pardons man's sins!
But does sin really exist? This word is hardly used any more. Today one uses
the words "negativity" and "positivity": man is invested
with good and evil without being responsible for it. This mentality has its
roots in the east (Buddhism), and in New Age groups, who do not recognise God
as a Person able to speak and listen, but consider Him an energy and man part
of that divinity. In mankind unity and divine powers are still hidden and he
must, therefore, try and discover them with certain exercises (yoga and breathing).
In this way of seeing things there is no room for the expression "sin":
it is an action caused by a turning away from love, from the will and from the
teaching of God the Father. Whoever does not know the love of the God of the
Old Testament cannot define as sins their own actions. The fact of not using
the term "sin" is indicative of ignorance of the Father and the Son;
indicative of lack of the light of the Holy Spirit.
Today we read of Moses who talked of sin as the cause of his people's suffering;
then the psalm asks for mercy for sins that generate too much suffering. Finally
Jesus describes the dynamics of sin with three parables, its consequences and
the only remedy possible. He is listened to by "sinners" and spied
on by those who considered themselves alright. His words have a message for
both: sinners must convert, reply with love to the love of God, but even those
who think they are alright must convert. They must fill their heart with the
same love that God the Father has for everyone, even for those who seem totally
lost. Whoever does not have this love in his heart cannot be pleasing to God,
cannot be in communion with him!
Jesus describes sin as the attitude of the prodigal son who uses the wealth
of the father to live and do just as he wants, satisfying his instincts; a son
who demands to live his life away from the members of his family. Sin is this
desire for independence, that independence that does not wish to listen to God!
Such independence generates an unbearable solitude. In fact, the wealth of this
world, demanded arrogantly from the Father, does not last long and cannot be
a substitute for his love nor can it create communion with other humans.
The solution? Man does not have it. Or rather, the only solution possible is
to return to the Father and to his family. The solution is to remember his limitless
love, come to oneself, recognise one's mistakes, plan ones return with humility,
ask for a meeting. The Father is able find a solution and wishes with all His
heart to fill the emptiness of the solitude of His son. He rejoices in the return
of His son, just as the shepherd is overjoyed at having found the lost sheep
or the woman who finds the lost coin.
To help us find our way back to the Father, He sends us His Son Jesus! Today
we contemplate this desire of the Father's, we are drawn towards the celebrations
that He is preparing for each one of us, we rediscover His love. With greater
awareness we profess our faith in a God who is not an Idea or an Energy, but
a living Being, who is thoughtful and desirous of being our Friend and Companion,
a Person who runs towards us and embraces us! Let us profess our faith in a
Father who awaits us, who gave us life and values us so much that he makes us
His collaborators of His eternal love for all humanity. He loves us so much
that He wishes to overcome all the obstacles created by our sins. St Paul's
greeting in the second reading encourages us to want this meeting with the Father,
to want it with all our might.