24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Sunday 11th September 2016)
Stand up and be counted as God’s little children – (Luke 15:1-32)
I always like to ask atheists what their reasons are for choosing not to believe in God. Most of them will say something like, “I couldn’t accept a God who wants to punish people for their sins”, or, “I don’t agree with a God who restricts our freedom of choice”. The atheists are usually surprised when I agree: I also don’t believe in a God who would “want to punish” or “impose limits on our freedom”! While some arguments against the existence of God may sound rational on the surface, it is always worthwhile retracing the steps to see how people reached their conclusions. When we scratch the surface it often becomes clear that people had a very wrong understanding of who God is (or isn’t) to begin with.
Jesus asks, “what man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he found it?” He is, of course, speaking about God’s search for us. Each and every single person is, in some way, like that sheep who strayed. We have all make bad choices at some stage in our lives. If we are honest, we can admit that we continue to make mistakes. Our actions have consequences, but God does not deliberately seek to punish. Rather, He wants to protect us from harm. God desires that we remain in His love, yet He allows us the freedom to stray if that’s what we should choose. The further away we wander, the more He anticipates our return. The prodigal son had to take only the first few steps back; his Father did the running!
Many people today struggle to accept God in their lives because they begin with a false image. If we think that God is a cruel master standing in opposition to our freedom, then our hearts will naturally harden when we hear His voice. But for those who dare to say, “Our Father”, there is no conflict between Divine justice and Divine mercy. We believe in a God who loves us beyond measure and gives us our true freedom. The call of the New Evangelization is to remind those who have strayed that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them. The message is simple, but the task is challenging. By giving witness to our Father in Heaven, we can change the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters here on earth. As faithful Catholics in today’s world, we need to be ready to stand up and be counted as God’s little children!
Fr. Colm Mannion, O.P.