3rd Sunday after Pentecost 10.6.18 Finding the
Lost
Our Lord goes after the one who is lost. We have just
celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart. This Sunday continues the same theme:
that God has a burning desire to save the one who is lost.
If a family with several children goes on a picnic they
would not leave one of the children behind at the end of the day.
Each child is valued, but on what basis? Not according to
looks, or money or talent - simply because they are there, needing care.
So with the whole human race, as God looks upon it.
He will not leave without you; He will gather up all who let
themselves be saved.
There are many people in the present world who feel very
alone; their lives as meaningless; who have not coped in the race of life. It
might be they are poor or homeless; or it might be that even if they are well
off economically they lack connection with the society around them.
There is an abundance of suffering; is there any hope?
Yes, it is found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who offers to
people what they crave for – a sense of purpose, of direction; a reassurance
that all their sufferings are noticed and cared for.
He assures each person that they do belong to someone (to
Him). And from that they belong to the Church, His Body. Everyone is important
to God.
We can think of people as just an anonymous mass. Yet see
any crowd of people, and Our Lord knows every one of them.
Everyone has a tale to tell. We know so little about each
other’s burdens, yet we know the general idea because we share in the same humanity.
Our Lord challenges us to see past the outer appearance of
each person to the great need within. We are to love all our neighbours,
whether attractive or not, because (as with the children on the picnic) they
simply need care.
Our Lord can do what we cannot. He can come to every person;
fill the void.
For ourselves we must not feel as though we are on the
scrapheap of life. Whatever our circumstances or status may be, we have this direct
relationship with God.
I am a disciple, a child of God. The least are as important
as the great as St Paul explains in 1 Co 12, 22-23 (the different parts of the
body).
The Sacred Heart can also help those who are dying or have
died. There especially is a great need for mercy. So many people die in sudden
and violent ways; we entrust them to the infinite mercy of God, that they may
find in the next life what they may not have found here.
It is a harsh world certainly, this ‘real world’ as it is
called.
The true reality, however, is greatly softened by the mercy
of God and His desire to save.
The world itself can be healed of its hurts, as more people
turn to God for mercy.
There is a right way for self-esteem; not that of vanity or
selfishness, but that which comes from a proper relationship with God. We value
ourselves because we are valuable to Him.
Only if people take the spiritual view will they see the
true perspective of their lives.
This has to be the right God and the right Saviour. It
cannot be what passes for religion today, a vague desire to be nice to others.
To take the picnic example the child has to get on the right
bus. We must deal with the same God who creates and sustains us.
Once we know Him we must make a very definite commitment to
Him. The sheep that was lost has to allow itself to be found, and then conform
to the ways of the flock.
So we make our way carefully and with hope, to our promised
home in Heaven.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
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