15th Sunday after Pentecost 5 Sep 2021 Sermon

 15^th Sunday after Pentecost 5 Sep 2021 Spiritual restoration

 Our Lord gives the son back to his mother. This is a sign of God's plan on a much wider scale – to bring back all that is presently lost to how it was meant to be. This applies especially for humans. God wants to save, to heal, to restore.

Regarding spiritual restoration the matter is much more complicated than a physical miracle.

Our Lord wants to lead people to an understanding of their spiritual hunger, and how completely they need to be in union with Him.

This requires a certain amount of thought on our part, and also a definite response.

In the current era people generally overestimate their status before God, due to a mistaken belief that there are no sins anymore; or at least that they themselves do not commit any.  

People give themselves a lot of latitude re their position. They will say that they love God, but will not be looking at their lives in a sense of what needs to change.

People who believe in Heaven often think they are going there, and this without any effort or adjustment to their lives.

We, for our part, try to be good, while maintaining a contrite attitude for the sins we do commit, and holding on to the hope of Heaven.

It is not so hard to get this right if only we will give the matter serious attention.

One has to be somewhat careful in the moral life, but as we grow in knowledge of God we also come to love Him, and from there it is more of a joy than a burden to walk in His ways.

If we have faults we must work on them, not just leave them there.

There are many traps around, which will present danger to people in different stages of faith.

Those, like us, who do take the faith seriously will not be tempted to be stealing cars and vandalising public properties, but more subtle sins such as thinking ourselves better than others; thinking ourselves good enough in our own strength. (cf pharisee and publican Lk 18,9-14).

We are tempted to call sins by other names, such as mistakes, peccadilloes, bad choices,  inappropriate behaviour.

We should call a sin a sin – that way we have more chance of uprooting it.

Another temptation is to try to bargain with God. If I do one thing right does that excuse another thing I do wrong?

We cannot trade obligations with God. This is what St Paul is saying in the epistle. God will not be mocked (Ga 6,7); He must be taken seriously.

We just do what God commands, and consistently, till this becomes part of us.

We seek the pathway to moral recovery, and that requires repentance.

We cannot get by pretending God does not exist or does not count. That approach will lead to disasters, and we have plenty of those.

Sometimes God puts an extra bit of urgency into the call, reminding people how fragile is the base on which they build.

The Covid disease is not just a physical problem, but has a spiritual dimension. Repentance is the most urgent need to begin to escape such problems.

As soon as God sees we are serious (at least a fair part of the human race) He will relent and we will see better days. Many times God relented on plans to punish Israel, because someone interceded (cf Moses Ex 32, 11-13).

We bring our own contrition before God and intercede for others. Thus we are restored, as God always wanted.