The Homily

Welcome my brothers and sisters in Christ to today's celebration of the Holy Mass on this beautiful Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today's readings from the Holy Scriptures teach us that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. His message from the Heavenly Father was one of pure love and mercy.

During the First Reading from the Book of Exodus [Exo. 32:7-11, 13-14] that is found in the Old Testament, we heard that while Moses was on Mount Sinai talking to God, the Lord became very upset because His chosen people were acting perversely. They had casted for themselves an image of a calf, worshipped it and sacrificed to it, giving credit to the idol for bringing them out of slavery in the land of Egypt.

Greatly offended by the people for having turned away from the way that He had commanded them, God was prepared to destroy them all, indicating to Moses that He would make a great nation out of him alone. Hearing this, Moses implored God to have mercy on the sinful people, reminding Him of His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Israel. If the people is destroyed, God would have broken His promises to their forefathers. The new people would only be descendants of Moses.

Hearing the plea of Moses, God changed His mind and decided not to destroy the people as He had originally planned. As history tells us, the people continued to sin. Consequently, except for two men who remained faithful to God, He punished all six hundred thousand men, [Ex. 12:37] denying them entry into the promised land. [Numb. 14:20-24] Only their descendants received the promised land under the leadership of Joshua. [Jos. 1:1-2]

In Exodus 32:7, when God first spoke to Moses about the perversion of the people, He referred to them as "your people," and no longer as "My people." Here we perceive how God detaches Himself away from those who renounce Him, especially when the credit for the manifestation of Divine power is given to false gods.

While God has no second thought about separating Himself from sinners, in this case, it was because of the personal relationship that Moses enjoyed with God that the Lord showed mercy towards the people. God had that same kind of relationship with Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Because of His love for the prophets, God held back His Divine vengeance. Powerful is the intercession of those who live righteously on behalf of those who are unrighteous. It is the intercession of the righteous that draws the mercy of God.

In the days of the Old Testament, Moses, a sinner himself, mediated for the sinful people. Now, we have "one Mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, Himself human, who gave Himself a ransom for all." [1 Tim. 2:5-6] "He is the Mediator of a better Covenant, which has been enacted through better promises. For if that first Covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one." [Heb. 8:6- 7]

There is an important lesson to learn from this reading. Frequently, it is heard that it is alright to sin because Jesus is all loving and merciful. He will forgive our sins. Based on what has just been said, had it not been for Moses, God would have destroyed His people. While Jesus is all loving and merciful, as our only Mediator before the Heavenly Father, will He defend those who voluntarily persist in sin? Did He not institute His Church, appointed its leader and handed over the keys of His Kingdom and its authority? Did He not institute the Sacraments and provided the people with a written record (the Holy Bible) of the spiritual laws by which they must live?

Therefore, as Mediator of mankind before the Heavenly Father, to some extent, is Jesus not bound by the Holy Catholic Church and its doctrines because of the promise that He has made regarding the keys to the Kingdom? If such is the case, while Jesus is our Mediator and will surely provide us with the best legal defence to secure our salvation, is His love and mercy not dependable upon our loyalty and obedience to the Holy Catholic Church?

During today's Second Reading from the First Letter of Paul to Timothy, [1 Tim. 1:12-17] we heard how the mercy of God sanctified St. Paul because he had a sincerity of heart. By the mercy of God, Paul, "formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence," [1 Tim. 1:12] was made "an example to those who would come to believe in (Jesus) for eternal life." [1 Tim. 12:16]

St. Paul began today's reading by expressing his gratefulness to Jesus for the call that he had received to preach the Gospel. He recognized that the grace of our Lord overflowed in him with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. [1 Tim. 1:14; Rom. 5:20]

Motivated by zeal to serve God, [Phil. 3:6; 2 Tim. 1:3; Acts 26:9] Paul had bitterly persecuted the Church [Acts 8:1-3] before receiving his calling. [Acts 9:3-6; 1 Cor. 15:8-10; Gal. 1:13-16] Because of the immense amount of suffering that he has created upon the Church, he possessed a large amount of gratitude towards Jesus for the mercy that had been shown toward him.

When Paul mentioned that "the grace of Our Lord overflowed for (him) with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus, he omitted the virtue of hope. This is because faith and love are primary virtues that identify the Christian. The virtues of faith and love are mentioned alone in other places in the Holy Bible. [Eph. 3:17, 6:23; Phlm. 5] In other instances, such as in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 and 1 Corinthians 13:13, all three virtues are mentioned together.

In verse 15 of the same Second Reading, Paul said "that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." [1 Tim. 1:15] This truth was affirmed by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke where I read, "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." [Lk. 19:10]

When St. Paul identified himself as the foremost of sinners, [1 Tim. 1:15] he was depicting humility. A similar passage is found in his Letter to the Ephesians where he said, "I am the very least of all the saints (Christians)." [Eph. 3:8]

When reviewing the first chapter of this Letter, it becomes obvious that Paul was telling his listeners that since he had been the greatest of sinners and yet, God has shown great mercy towards him, then this should be sufficient reasons for lesser sinners to convert. His conversion was the type of example that touches the heart and reason. There is no arguing that if God could show such great mercy towards St. Paul after all what he had done to the Church, therefore God would surely show equal mercy to other sinners who convert with a sincerity of heart.

Today's reading from the Gospel of Luke [Lk. 15:1-32] also speaks of the mercy of God. In this case, three parables are given to declare to magnitude of the mercy of God. These are the parables of the "Lost Sheep," [Lk. 15:3-7] of the "Lost Coin," [Lk. 15:8-10] and of the "Prodigal Son." [Lk. 15:11-32]

What brought about these parables is that the type of people who were coming to listen to Jesus, the tax collectors and sinners, drew criticism on the part of the Pharisees and the scribes. [Lk. 15:1] they were grumbling because Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. Poor Jesus, it did not matter what He did, there was always someone complaining about Him.

The first parable of the Lost Sheep that is found in two other Gospels [Mt. 18:12-14; Jn. 10:1-21] echoes the prophecy of Ezechiel regarding the incarnation of God. "For thus says the Lord God; I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flock when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries... I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice." [Ezek. 34:11- 16]

God incarnated in Jesus Christ did not come to save those who were already saved, but rather the sinners who needed to be saved.

The second Parable of the Lost Coin relates to us how valuable we are to God. As the woman greatly rejoiced when she found her lost coin, calling together her friends and neighbours, so it is in Heaven. When a soul has a change of heart and consequently receives its salvation through the grace of God that has been manifested through it, the angels rejoice in Heaven in the Presence of God. God has created so many angels that some of them must have been created just to sing Divine praises upon hearing that a soul has been saved. Alleluia!

The last parable of the Lost Son is also known as the parable of the "Prodigal Son." Again, we see the mercy of God at work in this example. The father had two sons and the youngest of the two wanted his share of the property so he could go and enjoy it. In those days, a father could abdicate before his death and divide his wealth if he chose to do so. [1 Kgs. 1-2; Sir. 33;19-23] So the father divided his property between his two sons. [Lk. 15:12]

Verse 13 tells us that after having travelled to a distant country, the youngest son squandered his property in dissolute living. [Lk. 15:13] In verse 30, the oldest son explains in clear terms how the property was squandered. The youngest son had wasted his property with prostitutes.

Then we heard that when the youngest son ran out of money, he turned to raising pigs and went hungry. At this point, seeing that the pigs were eating better than himself, the son must have stolen his food in order to survive. When his future looked hopeless, he experienced a change of heart. He decided to return to his father and admit to him that he had sinned against Heaven and his person. He was even prepared to be disown as a son and humble himself as a hired hand.

For the son to expect his father to show goodness towards him, he must have had fond memories of his father as a loving and caring man. After all, if his father had been an old grouch, the son would not have dared approach him, knowing that he never would have heard the end of his foolishness. But this was not the case. The love of the father had been instilled in the son, even before he had left or considered returning.

As we heard, the son returned home, the father welcomed him back and his brother resented the treatment that the father gave to his lost son. So upset was the older brother that when he spoke to his father, he would not even call him "father" as the younger son had done. (v. 21) When he spoke of his brother, he referred to him as "this one" instead of saying "my brother." (v. 30) Here we see a son, the oldest one, who thinks he is so holy and perfect while his brother is dirt in his eyes. Woe to those who judge! True holiness and perfection embraces love and mercy.

The Gospel Reading finished with the words, "this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found." [Lk. 15:32] Truly, I tell you, this younger brother was eternally lost until he came to his senses. Before that happened, he had to lose everything he had. That is good! Because had he remained rich to the day that he would have died, he would have gone straight to hell. By the grace of God, He was saved because of his poverty and his suffering. Through poverty and suffering, he experienced a change of heart and obtained the mercy of God.

Like all of the aforementioned, God's people in the days of Moses, St. Paul, the shepherd who lost one of his one hundred sheep, the lady who lost her coin and the father who lost his son, we all have a complete dependence on the mercy of God. Some of us may need more grace and mercy from God than others because we truly are greater sinners. But no matter how great a sinner one is, there is always time to turn back because Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

As we continue with the celebration of the Holy Mass, let us pray for those who have fallen away from the grace of God so that Divine mercy may reach out to them before it is too late. May their ears be opened so they will hear that Jesus is welcoming them back home.