ME
NU

OMELIE / Omelie EN

11 set 2022
11/09/2022 – 24th Sunday in O. T. - year C

11/09/2022 – 24th Sunday in O. T. - year C

Reading 1 EX 32,7-11.13-14 Psalm 50 Reading 2 1TIM 1,12-17 Gospel LK 15,1-32

The reality and seriousness of sin seem the theme of the readings the Lord gives us as a gift today. There we are introduced to the Jewish people’s sin, to the apostle’s and all men’s. Sin is a very serious occurrence, but it is not without remedy. The people of Israel has made up a god for itself to its taste, easy to follow, so it has abandoned all the wise instructions of the only true God. In this way the people believe it is religious, even if it has abandoned the one who has saved it from slavery in Egypt and guided it to freedom. This sin is so serious, that God decides to leave the people to its own devices, saving only Moses, who was still faithful to Him. It is Moses himself to ask for salvation: he asks God not to take back the promises made to the fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God, thanks to Moses’ prayer and remembering His promises, looks still with benevolence at the unfaithful people!

God’s benevolence is again showing unexpectedly and in a unattainable way in Paul’s life. He not only was rejecting the Son of God by being blasphemous, but he was also persecuting the Church. God had mercy of him, and in this way he had mercy of the entire Church and the whole world. The benevolence used towards him, in fact, becomes a blessing for all those who, through him, listen to the gospel. The persecutor of the Church, by becoming Jesus’ disciple, has received the mission of announcing, with his life and his words, that Jesus has come for the sinners, to save them. He thinks of himself as the worst sinner, who is the most in need of salvation. And the other sinners, who are they? Are there really still some sinners in this world? And God, what does He think of them?

To these questions Jesus answers using His parables. All men are sinners. This is what Jesus sees. Not everyone is a sinner in the same way as others, but all men look after themselves and their own interests instead of looking at the Father and pursuing His desires, which are joy for us. There are some who are sinners because they keep their distance knowingly from God and the communion with Him, and there are some who are sinners even if they seem to stay close to Him.

Everyone need to look at themselves, everyone need to compare themselves to the Father’s love. Am I welcoming His love for me? Do I answer the love He shows me? Do I take part in the love He bestows upon others? Do I accept His love for my brothers? The prodigal son and his brother are representing us all. Each one of us need to go back to the house and the heart of the Father to live the joy and become a reason for joy. All of us are sinners, but nobody is such a sinner that he cannot come back and cannot become God’s joy!

Even if you and I are sinners, the Father is looking for us like the shepherd who ardently desires to find the lost sheep does, to celebrate when he finds it. However, we are not animals who are following their instincts, we have a will, and the latter needs to humble itself in order to find the way back. We have a conscience which tells us that it is our fault if we have abandoned our God’s love, and we have a memory which tells us that in the Father’s house there is bread and love, freedom and communion. The Father respects our freedom and awaits our decision. He is waiting for us with a heart ready to celebrate, with the hands stretched for hugging us as soon as He sees us coming back.

Furthermore, the Father wants nobody left out or feeling like they are left out of His feast. Unfortunately, there are men who have followed God’s instructions, but they do not have learnt from Him how to be merciful towards those who need mercy. Those who want to be a Son for God, not only will try to work for Him, but above all to learn His way of being, His way of loving, His way of being a Father. Those who enter God’s heart in this way are not sinners anymore, and they start building the kingdom of heaven.