XXIVth Sunday in Ordinary time.

XXIV-Sunday EXOD 32: 7-14; I TIM 1: 12-17;Gosple: LK 15: 1-32

The parable of the prodigal son, has been called the greatest short story in the world. But, is it in fact a parable about a prodigal son? To put the younger son at the centre of the parable is already to start to misunderstand it. What is at the centre- is the father's great attachment and concern, his willingness to welcome the sinners back. This story reveals 3 amazing things about God's love for us. First, God's love is personal. God doesn't love us globally, but each of us individually in a special, personal way. Second, God's love is unconditional. God does not love us on the condition that we stay good and do not stray into sin. God loves us even when we stray--and to the point of going in search of us. Finally, God's love is a rejoicing love. God's response upon finding us is total joy--with no admixture of rebuke.
The parable of the Good shepherd shows how God is a good shepherd to us. There's an old story, about a little boy who cried out in the night. "Daddy, I'm scared!" Half awake Daddy said, "Don't be afraid, Daddy's right across the hall." There was a brief pause and the little boy called out, "I'm still scared." So Daddy pulled out the big guns, "You don't have to be afraid, God is with you. God loves you." The pause was longer but the little boy called out again, "I don't care about God, Daddy; I want someone with skin on!"

God knew we needed that assurance of someone with skin on. So God wrapped all the glory of heaven into the flesh and blood of Jesus and stepped into this world as the Good Shepherd just to show us how much we are loved. The Good Shepherd isn't satisfied until all of the sheep are safely gathered into the flock. Not even a one percent margin of loss was acceptable. He will not rest if only one sheep is missing, or one coin is lost. They show us that he cares deeply enough to go out of his way to save us when we are lost.

These parables teach us more about the heart of God than a whole library full of theological treatises. All three parables of Luke 15 end with a party or a celebration of the finding. The self-righteous Pharisees, who accused Jesus of befriending publicans and sinners, could not believe that God would be delighted at the conversion of sinners.
The elder son’s distrust, pointed out at the end of the parable, coincides with the initial malicious gossip of the Pharisees which prompted Jesus to tell them this parable. The self-righteous Pharisees who would rather see a sinner destroyed than saved. The elder son reflects the Pharisees' attitude that obedience to Mosaic Law is a duty, not a loving service. Like the Pharisees, the elder brother lacks sympathy for his sibling and levels accusations at him. As a self-righteous person, he refuses to forgive. Thus, his grudge becomes a sin in itself, resulting in his exclusion from the banquet of his father’s love. That is what we all do when we sin. We exclude ourselves from the banquet of God’s love.
The Pharisees could not understand this forgiving image of God, because they have painted their image of God in their own likeness.
Our view of God affects every decision and relationship in our life. Kathleen Chesto wrote to Catholic Digest to tell them about an incident that occurred in her family. Her five-year-old child approached her one day in the kitchen and asked, "Mom, is God a grown-up or a parent?"

Mom was a little puzzled by the question. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said. "Is there a difference between a grown-up and a parent?" "Oh yes," her five-year-old answered quickly. "Grown-ups love you when you are good and parents love you anyway." If we have never received unconditional love, we have never given it. Some of us are still trying to earn our way to heaven. And we are expecting others to earn their way as well, like the pharisees. Jesus is trying to tell us in this parable that God's love doesn't depend on our goodness; it depends on God's character. Here is this truth expressed in I John 4: 10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
God’s love is a persistent, tenacious kind of love. By looking at just how lavish in the parable is the father's welcome for his lost son, we might well say that it is the father who is 'the prodigal', that he is prodigal of his mercy. The father heaps presents on the younger son. Throughout the Bible we are shown just how much care God lavishes on us, despite a catalogue of infidelities and betrayals and failings on our part.

The younger son didn't really know his father. He didn't know how much his father loved him and how eagerly his father wanted to bequeath him prosperity and joy. As a result, he paid his father a colossal insult by demanding his share of the inheritance while his father was still alive.
It was a way of saying that his father would be of more use to him dead than alive. The older son was no better. On the surface he seemed to do everything right, but he had no idea about how much his father cared for him, and so he resented the celebration at this brother's return. Although they had lived their entire lives under the same roof, the two brothers had never opened their hearts to their father; they had closed themselves into the petty little world of their egoism.
We can easily do the same: spend our whole lives as "practicing" Catholics, going through all the right motions and looking great on the outside, but not opening our hearts to God, not getting to know him on a personal, intimate level. That's a risky way to live our faith: we could easily end up separated from the Father for good, eating corn husks and missing out on the joyful celebration of the Father's love.

As the sheep that strayed out far from the herd, the younger son is lost from home, and this is reflected in the geographical distance he travels away from home; he ends up in a distant country. Like the coin that was lost in the house, the older brother stays put, but he risks getting lost by cutting himself off from his brother and his father. There are separations that need no great physical gap. The Pharisees “lived” in the house of God, but could not experience the forgiving love of God, the publicans and sinners were away from the so called people of God, but experienced the forgiving love of God through Jesus. This parable teaches us that it is possible to live "in the Father's house" without really getting to know the Father.

This can be for us a Sunday of self-reflection and assessment. As forgiven prodigals, we must be forgiving people. God’s forgiving attitude was shown by Jesus when he prayed for his killers saying that they did not know what they were doing (Luke 23:34). If those who killed the Son of God could be forgiven because they acted in ignorance, then every human sin could be forgiven because there is an element of ignorance that clouds our spiritual and moral insight at the moment of sin.
Nine years ago today, the United States suffered the greatest terrorist attack ever on American soil, with almost 4,000 dead. To mark that event this Sunday is observed as peace and justice Sunday. It brings us face to face with the ugly face of world terrorism on the one hand, while on the other it makes us to look up to God for the ever growing problems we find ourselves surrounded with. God created a just and peaceful society for us to live. But our sins disrupted that peace in the world. The so called terrorists act out of ignorance, blinded by wrong teachings of fanaticism. They need God’s grace to see the wrong they do and seek God’s forgiveness for their wrong. In the perspective of the terrorists, others are at wrong, not they. If there is something wrong on our side as a nation, we need self examination and see the wrong on our side to rectify and seek God’s grace to remove the speck or log, out of our eyes. As we pray for peace in the world let’s ask God to give eternal light and peace to all who died on 9/11/2001 at World Trade Centre. Christianity will be known by the fruits of love, kindness, compassion and mercy. As Christians, being led by the Holy Spirit, let’s show our identity by the forgiveness we offer who hurt us.