15th Sunday after Pentecost
13.9.20 Reclaiming the lost
The widow of Naim symbolizes the Church as a mother reclaiming her children.
We seek to claim or reclaim lots of people, not least members of our own families.
The task of conversion is complicated by the fact that people presently far from God will not usually want to be converted. They may not be happy where they are, yet they distrust any idea of a religious solution.
Nobody wants to be told what to do, especially by their mothers, or other close people.
Nor, very likely, do they want to hear from God; or the Church either.
It is ironic that we offer good news, the gateway to eternal life, the happiest way to live in this earthly life – all this, but we cannot give it away.
So much so that when we go to tell people how good it all is they might try to kill us! A great many have been killed just for doing that - Our Lord Himself being the most notable case.
This desire to kill the bringer of good tidings indicates the deeper, darker presence of the evil one. He wants people to think they cannot or do not need to change.
We greatly desire the conversion of others. And God wants it more than we do. But He will not force it. He wants to win people through love.
He will exert force on our will by way of trying to steer us into better paths; but not to the point of overriding free will. The decision to become a disciple of Christ needs to be voluntary, to achieve its main point. It has to be voluntary to be a free act of love on our part.
God does not want a lot of sullen people in Heaven, who have been forced to go there!
God has many strings to His bow. He can give us a taste of His goodness, and of the joy that awaits those who accept His offer. Taste and see that the Lord is good. (Ps 33(34),8)
Or He can let people suffer the frustration or futility of any attempt to live without Him.
Either we see the desirability of God, or the hopelessness of being without Him, or a bit of both.
This is how conversions happen, and young men are restored to their Mother.
Whose children will be converted? We grieve together for those presently lost, and we pray together that they may be found.
We can pray for each other’s children, praying as the whole Church.
The path of conversion ought to be the obvious choice, but it gets back to the same reason as people kill the bearers of good tidings.
The evil one deceives. One’s present life may be miserable but at least it is familiar.
Sin appears to offer happiness, however many times we have seen that it does not do so.
Then someone will say that churchgoers are all hypocrites, or paedophiles, etc.
They will say they are good enough as they are and do not need Church.
And so on.
We, for our part, will say with the Church, that salvation is found only in Christ.
They can resist or even kill us but the word of God, and the will of God do not change.
People without God will have moments of self-doubt, and these are times when the grace of God can make inroads.
If the Gospel is given to disturb the comfortable, then we pray that those taking comfort in this life only will be sufficiently disturbed to make a change.
We pray that the plain truth will be seen plainly, and the response be as the truth indicates.
We hope they do not kill us for pointing out the obvious, but if they do we will at least know why!
May the Lord restore thousands of sons to Mother Church in our time.
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