Sunday 11 September 2022
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14. I will rise and go to my father – Psalm 50(51):3-4, 12-13, 17, 19. 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Luke 15:1-32.
There will be rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner
Sometimes the connection between the readings can be so tenuous as to be almost non-existent, but not today. They all blaze with the certainty that God loves and welcomes us always. Yes, we mess up – we sin – as Paul confesses to Timothy in the second reading, but Paul knows with certainty that repentance will be met with mercy. While God can get exasperated with our backsliding (First reading), God has ‘inexhaustible patience’, according to Paul.
Families separated by Covid border closures have patiently been waiting to come together. Now that travel is once again flourishing, we’ve seen pictures of people embracing, crying and laughing at airports at the sheer joy of being together again. That is how God welcomes back the repentant sinner – with all-encompassing joy.
Email this Print This Page
