Thursday, September 20, 2012

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Psalm 118:1b-2, 16ab-17, 28, Luke 7:36-50


SONG OF SONGS:3-4b  
I FOUND THE LOVE OF MY HEART, I HELD HIM AND WOULD NOT LET HIM GO.
M--- MINE TRUST ME

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:



I am saved by the Gospel on which I stand firm for it has a Rock solid Foundation and You are the Cornerstone, provided that it is the Gospel handed down by You to the Apostles and from them to their successors.  The same Gospel that You preached and taught – the same yesterday, today and forever.  Where sin is sin and virtue is virtue and the definition of Absolute Truth is unchanging.  This is the Good News – You died for our sins, You were buried and You were raided on the 3rd day in accordance with very prophecy recorded in Scripture.

You appointed Peter as the first pope and gave him singular authority in the Church that You founded After Your Resurrection You appeared to the Apostles and to St. Paul.  You gave them Your Own Holy Spirit to carry out the mission to which they were called, the mission to go spread the Gospel to the ends of the world.  Every baptized Christian has through Your merits become an adopted child of God.  We share Your life, we have one hope and we are strengthened in love by the God of love who is revealed to us unceasingly by the Holy Spirit who binds the Father and the Son in love.

Verse 10  “…by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been without fruit.”

The grace given to every Christian bears fruit for the Kingdom.  We labor in His vineyard each according to the work He assigns to us.  He works through us and he desires to establish His Kingdom on earth with our help, each according to His call and the work entrusted to us. He provides the grace in abundance and we offer our will, our obedience, our humility which enables us to work with integrity and love.

 
You my Beloved are my God.  My experience of You has always been goodness and loving kindness.  You have never failed me and I know You never will.  Your right hand is lifted high above me loving protection.  It offers me shade and prevents terror, evil and fear from striking me.  You are my God and I will thank and praise You for as long as is breath in my body on earth and eternally with You in heaven – my home.
 

My Beloved, how often in the past my look has been exactly like that of the Pharisee who invited You for a meal in his home.  My heart was small, my mind narrow, my vision, my spirit cold.  I was full of bigotry and self righteousness I had quite forgotten all the times I had sinned and sometimes grievously, before my conversion.  What is truly inspiring in this encounter between the sinner and the Pharisee is that she knew she was a great sinner, she was truly sorry, she had a generous spirit and she was prepared to make a complete conversion. She was not ashamed to make a public display of her sorrow.  Her attitude won Your favor and Your admiration.  You saw her heart and You granted her pardon and peace.  She received all that her heart had desired and so much more when she fell at Your feet.  Today she is a model for all sinners who wish to repent.

The self-righteous Pharisee who was so busy nit picking in secret thinking that no one could read his thoughts must have been certainly been taken by surprise when he discovered that his secret thoughts were in fact not to secret.  You censured him for the basic lack of etiquette and welcome he denied You although it was he who had invited You to his home and he was Your host.  He must have been red-faced with shame when You showed him up before his peers and he never forgot the lesson You taught him when You praised the sinner that he had so vehemently despised.

No sinner is ever turned away from Your merciful and welcoming love no matter how grave or many the sins.  Our grateful response must be like this woman’s in the Gospel.  Our sorrow, repentance and contrition must be sincere and we must be willing to make amends and turn away from sin and from the things that lead us to sin.  We must believe in faith that our sins are forgiven and we are given an opportunity to start afresh.  I too have been forgiven much may I too learn to love You more and more each day.

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