Reflection/Homily: Twenty-Fourth (24th) Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Year C (September 15 2013)

Reflection/Homily: Twenty-Fourth (24th) Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Year C (September 15 2013)

Theme: Mending a Broken Relationship 

In the first reading (Ex. 32:7-11, 13-14) the Israelites broke their relationship with God by making for themselves a molten calf which they worshiped instead of God. God was annoyed with them and wanted to destroy them. He communicated His will to Moses who mended this broken relationship by interceding on their behalf and God spared them. Like Moses we are invited today to work towards mending our broken relationship with God. As a community of sinful believers, we often break our relationship with God and only an attitude of repentance could restore this broken relationship. 

As children of God, we are also invited to word towards the salvation of sinners. We don’t have to hope for or glory in the destruction of sinners for Christ came to save all sinners. Instead, we have to constantly pray for them and assist them to repent. Because God’s kingdom is enough to accommodate all creatures, we should not see to be extolled for righteousness and have sinners perish.

In the second reading (1 Timothy 1:12-17), St. Paul speaks of the unique role the grace of God played in mending his broken relationship with God. Out of ignorance, he persecuted believers and through grace,, God restored him to the faith and love of Jesus. So like St. Paul, we are also invited to be conscious of the influence of God’s grace in our spiritual lives and to cooperate with it. Each time we are on the wrong track, God makes available superfluous grace to enable us mend our broken relationship with Him. This grace begins by making us aware of what we are and who we are supposed to be. 

This grace is at work each time we dispose ourselves to be touched by the Word of God. This grace speaks to us through the inner voices of our consciences and calls us to do good and avoid evil. This grace makes us aware of our sinfulness and thus provokes in us an awareness of the mercy of God. Propelled by this grace, the prodigal son in the gospel reading (Luke 15:1-32) became aware of his wretchedness and was moved to mend his broken relationship with his father.

The gospel reading presents us with three characters: the father, the younger son and the older son. The insatiable quest for freedom made the younger son break his relationship with the father for a distant land where he squandered all his possessions. Like the prodigal son, our quest for freedom from regulations makes us break our relationship with God. Like the father, God is also ever ready to permit us exercise our freedom as we desire. But the function of grace is to illumine our minds as we make choices in life. A mind illumined by grace would discover that true freedom is not being independent from God or from religion. True freedom consists in the ability of the soul to communicate with God as it desires. Sin which includes distance from God limits the soul in its communication with God. 

Freedom is the energy that powers our relationship with God because God so much respects our freedom. Since sin is an abuse of this freedom, it breaks this relationship with God. But God is ever ready and available to welcome us back and mend this broken relationship. It doesn’t matter how long this relationship has been broken or how devastated we are returning. What He wants is a sincere return to mend this relationship which He values so much. He is ready to embrace us as His sons and daughters, clothe us with the robe of sanctity, put a ring of royalty on our finger and protect our feet from danger. All these are on the condition that we willingly approach Him to mend our broken relationship with Him. To do this, we have to break our relationship with our evil past, with sin and all that keep us away from God that we may focus on Him. 

Therefore, every new day especially today is an opportunity to become more aware of this broken relationship and an opportunity to mend it. As we hear the Word of God today, let it motivate us to foster reconciliation with God both for ourselves and for others. God does not run away from us because of our sins, instead our sins make us run away from God. Unlike the elder son, let us rejoice in the love God has for all sinners and help them experience God’s mercy instead of being infuriated with the great love God is offering them. Happy Sunday for God loves you. 

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