Now all the tax collectors and sinners were
coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling
and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So
he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing
one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the
one that is lost until he finds it?
When
he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And
when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them,
‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just
so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."
The
Gospel of the Lord.
Reflection:
We are
in the second week of our Lenten journey.
Tonight, we come to our parish gathering, to acknowledge the sins that
we have in our lives, to seek reconciliation with God and with our brothers and
sisters. We are here to seek forgiveness
from God, to amend our lives, to turn away from our sins, to change our hearts.
We are
journeying through the desert wilderness with Jesus during these 40 days of
Lent. We might feel like the Devil is
tempting us and that the wild animals are all around us just as it was during
Jesus’ desert journey. We might feel
like we are lost in the desert wilderness, not knowing our way back. But, the message we hear from God today is
not of scorn or ridicule, but a message that we can celebrate. God is like the shepherd who has a flock of
100 sheep. And when only one of those
sheep are lost, he searches high and low in order to find that sheep and to
bring her back. In his great love for
that one individual sheep, he will leave the other 99 in order to bring that
one back.
The
sacrament of reconciliation is a sign of that love, of God’s love for each one
of us. He is reaching out to us in this
sacrament, to bring us back to the fold.
We might often take God’s love for us for granted. But, if we are really aware of what this
sacrament is all about, we will not leave the sacrament of reconciliation
tonight unchanged. For tonight, we are
touched with God’s love in a special way.
Hopefully, the way we are touched by God tonight will help us on our
journey through the desert during Lent, will help us become more understanding
and compassionate and forgiving. Let us
feel the touch of God’s love that is reaching out to us today.
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