It is 5th November 2020. The readings are from Philippians 3:3-8; and the Gospel from Luke 15:1-10.
Conversion is not merely a human effort alone but an acknowledgement of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness for each one of us. No matter what sin we have committed, how remotely hiding our life from the Lord, still God accepts us as we are. Let us not delay anymore and be ashamed to return to the Lord. The fear and hesitation can make us to continue in the sin unashamedly. The realization of God’s love for us deals with our decisive power to return to the Lord. God and the Heavens are rejoicing when we return to the Lord with all our hearts.
“I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil.3:8)
St. Paul confesses in today’s reading the treasure we all need to seek and go after is Christ himself. To master our body is not the ultimate goal our existence rather making our spirit to know and love Christ by all means is the purpose and meaning of our life. It is not a bookish knowledge about Christ but to have the personal encounter that comes by the experience of meeting Him in every moment of our life. To know Christ is not sufficient at all but to live for Him is what we all need to aspire for. Most of us have gained many things in life not Christ. St. Paul boasted himself that he would rather lose everything to gain Christ. Have we gained Christ in our life?
The responsorial Psalm praises, “Let hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.” (Ps.105:3).
Jesus goes after the one person who is lost the focus on God. It can happen to anyone of us in our lives. We can and choose to forget the Lord and live a life that pleases us. But Jesus remembers and retraces our way back to God. Finding ourselves by God is a happiness of our life. Let us not continue to play hide and seek with the Lord. Untiring search of God is seen in the quest of being found by God’s only Beloved Son Jesus. We can acknowledge our sinfulness only by loving Jesus. Jesus is the Shepherd who is looking for me and you to carry us on His shoulders to make us feel the love of God. Looking for something we have lost is not only the work of God, but of the community and of ourselves too. We all have lost the real touch with God during the pandemic. Our personal prayers, reading the Word of God, doing some charitable work or visiting the cemetery or the Church all are now gradually declining due to these unprecedented times of our lives. In every churning there is an unquenchable yearning to return to the Lord and allow ourselves be found by God and community. Have a lovely day. God bless you.