24th Sunday Ordinary :: Op-stjoseph.org

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 09-16-07 Divine Mercy and Human Response Prepared by: Fr. Lawrence J. Donohoo, O.P. Scripture Readings First Ex. 32, 7-11, 13-14 Second 1 Tm 1, 12-17 Gospel Lk 15, 1-32 1. Subject Matter •

The three readings coalesce to offer a multiplicity of perspectives on the mystery of God’s forgiving love as mediated through human beings.

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The first reading portrays God’s providential mercy in fashioning a situation and sustaining a relationship in which Moses, placing himself in the patriarchal tradition, is given divine permission to convert God’s wrath into divine forbearance.

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The second reading, autobiographically framed to report St. Paul’s examination of conscience, expresses gratitude that God’s merciful love has released him from arrogant blindness and reorganized him to serve as an icon reflecting divine forgiveness. For Paul, this gift is the personal transformation that has enabled him to be a preacher to the nations; for future believers, it is the promise that a similar outpouring of divine mercy may be granted one day to those who need it.

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The Gospel, offering among the “lost and found” parables arguably the most famous parable of them all, reports there the divine forgiveness in the interacting contrasts between a father who would offer merciful love but finds none to receive it, a younger son who misunderstands his father’s love but would return to his father’s justice, and an older son who rejects his father’s “justice” in order to return to himself.

2. Exegetical Notes •

“Moses comes into the camp, breaks the tablet, and oversees punishment. . .But Moses does not allow the bond to be broken. In perhaps the most impressive and poignant

depiction of a servant of God in the Hebrew Scriptures, he gives up fame and ease for himself to stay with is people, interceding effectively in their behalf.” (NJBC) •

There are four emphases in Lk 15: “(1) The motifs of universality, community, and soteriology are inextricably commingled. (2) Conversion is a requisite for find joy. (3) Happiness consists essentially in a willingness to share in God’s own joy in dispensing salvation. (4) The call to participate in God’s love and joy is issued through Jesus Christ.” (NJBC)

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“This parable plays upon the hearers’ knowledge of two-brothers stories, in which the younger brother triumphs over the older brother(s) [Esau and Jacob, Joseph and his brothers]. . . .Jesus doubly reverses expectations: the prodigal son is a parody of the successful younger brother; the elder son is not vanquished, but invited to the feast.” (NJBC)

3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church •

CCC 2577 From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, Moses drew strength and determination for his intercession. He does not pray for himself but for the people whom God made his own. Moses already intercedes for them during the battle with the Amalekites and prays to obtain healing for Miriam. But it is chiefly after their apostasy that Moses “stands in the breach” before God in order to save the people. The arguments of his prayer - for intercession is also a mysterious battle - will inspire the boldness of the great intercessors among the Jewish people and in the Church: God is love; he is therefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict himself; he must remember his marvelous deeds, since his glory is at stake, and he cannot forsake this people that bears his name.

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CCC 545 Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father’s boundless mercy for them and the vast “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life “for the forgiveness of sins.”

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CCC 1439 The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father: the fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment f the father’s house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worst, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father’s generous welcome; the father’s joy–all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life–pure, worthy, and joyful–of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ who 2

knows the depths of his Father’s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simply and beautiful a way. •

CCC 1443 During his public life Jesus not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven sinners in the community of the People of God from which sin had alienated or even excluded them.

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CCC 1846 The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners. The angel announced to Joseph: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

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CCC 2839 And forgive us our trespasses. . .[I]n this new petition, we return to him [God] like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. Our petition begins with a “confession” of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.”

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CCC 1700 Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth. . .With the help fo grace they grow in virtue. . ., avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven.

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CCC 1468 “The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.” Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation “is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.”

4. Patristic Commentary and Other Authorities •

St. Ambrose: “St. Luke has given three parables successively: the sheep which was lost and found, the piece of silver which was lost and found, the son who was dead and came to life again, in order that we, invited by a threefold remedy, might heal our wounds. Christ as the Shepherd bears you on his own body, the Church as woman seeks you, God as the Father receives thee: the first, pity; the second, intercession; the third, reconciliation.”

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St. Gregory of Nyssa: “But when the shepherd had found the sheep, he did not punish it, he did not get it to the flock by driving it, but by placing it upon his shoulder, and carrying it gently, he united it to his flock.”

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St. Gregory the Great: “But he allows there is more joy in heaven over the converted sinner, than over the just who remain steadfast. For these, for the most part, not feeling 3

themselves oppressed by the weight of their sins, stand indeed in the way of righteousness, but still do not anxiously sigh after the heavenly country. They are frequently slow to perform good works, confident that they have committed no grievous sins. But sometimes those who remember certain evil deeds they have committed are pricked to the heart, and from their very grief glow inflamed toward the love of God. Because they judge they have wandered far from him, they make up for their former losses by succeeding gains. •

St. Gregory of Nyssa: “No advantage accrues to us from the external virtues, which our Lord calls pieces of silver, although we possess them all, if there be lacking to the widowed soul that one which it in truth obtains by the brightness of the divine image. Hence he first instructs us to light a candle, that is, the divine word, which brings hidden things to light, or perhaps the torch of repentance. But in his own house, that is, in himself and his own conscience, must an individual seek for the lost piece of silver, that royal image, which is not entirely defaced, but hidden under the grime, which signifies its corruption of the flesh, and once this is carefully wiped away, that is, washed out by a virtuous life, that which was sought for finally shines forth.”

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St. Augustine: “But what is said to have taken place not long after, namely, that gathering together all of his belongings he set out abroad into a far country, which is forgetfulness of God, signifies that no long after the institution of the human race, the soul of man chose of its free will to take with it a certain power of its nature and to desert him by whom it was created. Trusting in its own strength, it wastes this the more rapidly as it has abandoned him who bestowed it.”

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St. Ambrose: “For what is more afar off than to depart from one’s self, to be separated not by country but by habits. For he who severs himself from Christ is an exile from his country and a citizen of this world.”

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St. Basil: “There are three different distinct kinds of obedience. For either from fear of punishment we avoid evil and are servilely disposed; or looking to the gain of a rewards we perform what is commanded like mercenaries; or we obey the law for the sake of good itself and our love to him who gave it.”

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St. John Chrysostom: “For what else does he ran mean than that we through the hindrance of our sins cannot by our own virtue reach to God. But because God is able to come to the weak, he fell on his neck. The mouth is kissed as that from which has proceeded the confession of the penitent which, springing from his heart, is that which the father gladly receives.”

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St. Ambrose: “He is also called the elder son because a man soon grows old through envy. Thus he too stands outside because his malice excludes him. Could he then not hear the dancing and music, not in fact wanton fascinations of the stage, but the harmonious song of a people resounding with the sweet pleasantness of joy for a sinner saved. For they who seem to themselves righteous are angry when pardon is granted to one 4

confessing his sins. . . .Let us not envy those who return from a distant country, seeing that we ourselves also were afar off.” 5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars •

St. Paul’s compelling autobiographical sketches, stylized in 1 Timothy but poured out in such “unedited” texts as Galatians and 2 Corinthians, have inspired the Christian autobiographical genre from such spiritual giants as Sts. Augustine, Ignatius of Loyola, Theresa of Avila, and Thérèse of Lisieux. These and other autobiographies manifest the countless responses to God’s grace in forms both masculine and feminine, ancient and modern, sin punctuated and grace impressed.

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The various biographies (and autobiographies) of the saints offer testimony to the diverse responses to the mystery of our finding our way back to God. These range from the mistaken arrogance of St. Paul, to the morally marred intellectual journey of St. Augustine, through St. Ignatius’ well-intentioned quest for the divine will after his moral conversion, to the description of advancement in St. Theresa of Avila’s mystical journey, up to St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s teaching in the first-person singular that effectively erases the wall separating personal experience and universal application.

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By confessing and apologizing for the Church’s past sins, John Paul II took to a new level the admissions of the prodigal son and his disciples–the saints who silhouetted their sins and failings against the radiant background of divine grace.

6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI •

“Conversion in the Pauline sense is something much more radical than, say, the revision of a few opinions and attitudes. It is a death-event. In other words, it is an exchange of the old subject for another. The ‘I’ ceases to be an autonomous subject standing in itself. It is snatched away from itself and fitted into a new subject. The ‘I’ is not simply submerged, but it must really release its grip on itself in order then to receive itself anew in and together with a greater ‘I.’”

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“Faith requires conversion and that conversion is an act of obedience toward a reality which precedes me and which does not originate from me. Moreover, this obedience continues, inasmuch as knowledge never transforms this reality into a constituent element of my own thought, but rather the converse is true: it is I who make myself over to it, while it always remains above me.”

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“A mystery can be seen only by one who lives it; the moment of spiritual insight coincides of necessity with the moment of conversion. . . .Even from a purely human standpoint there is abundant evidence for the thesis that without conversion, without a radical inner change in our thinking and being, we cannot draw closer to one another.”

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“It is clear that human beings alone cannot save themselves. Their innate error is precisely that they want to do this by themselves. We can only be saved-that is, be free and true–when we stop wanting to be God and when we renounce the madness of autonomy and self-sufficiency. We can only be saved–that is, become ourselves–when we engage in the proper relationship. But our interpersonal relationships occur in the context of our utter creatureliness, and it is there that the image lies. Since the relationship with creation has been damaged, only the Creator himself can be our savior. We can be saved only when he from whom we have cut ourselves off takes the initiative with us and stretches out his hand to us. Only being loved is being saved, and only God’s love can purify damaged human love and radically reestablish the network of relationships that have suffered from alienation.”

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“Humans are dependent. They cannot live except from others and by trust. But there is nothing degrading about dependence when it takes the form of love, for then it is no longer dependence, the diminishing of self through competition with others. Dependence in the form of love precisely constitutes the self as self and sets it free, because love essentially takes the form of saying, “I want you to be.” It is creativity, the only creative power, which can bring forth the other as other without envy or loss of self. Humans are dependent–that is the primary truth about them. And because it is, only love can redeem them, for only love transforms dependence into freedom.”

7. Other Considerations •

“God’s mercy, indeed, is as foolish as a shepherd who abandons 99 sheep to save one, as a woman who turns her house upside down to recover a paltry sum, and as a Jewish father who joyfully welcomes home his wastrel son who has become a Gentile.” (NJBC)

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God’s dual role in his dialogue with Moses–and with every other human being who has existed–should be noted: as the One who stands over against us as intelligent and free Divine Being, as the One who stands behind us to enable and support our conversation with him. Consequently, two senses of the divine will come to light: God’s “appearing” will is to destroy his faithless people, but his “real” will is to save them through the intercession of Moses.

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While St. Paul’s putatively autobiographical statement in 1 Timothy belongs to the public revelation, it is an invitation for each Christian to seek an interpretation of his or her life from the perspective of the divine plan. This interpretation will honestly admit both elements of sin and grace as well as divine initiative and human response.

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When all is said and done, both sons have the same desires. Both want material goods, measurable things, and the virtue which corresponds to the fair distribution of material things is justice. The difference is that only the younger son shows himself capable of acting out his desires. Standing over against both these rejected and repressed expressions of justice is the father’s love in the respective modes of begging and forgiving. 6

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Justice would be sufficient if we did not need something more. All have sinned and fallen short of the divine demands. We need something that is more liberal and generous than the demands of justice. We need something unearned, unmerited, uncalled for. We need mercy, grace, prodigality, a prodigal Father who gives us not what we deserve, but what we don't.

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It is unfortunately possible to mimic the elder son and miss the point that the real estate in question is God and our brothers and sisters. We can work our whole lives trying to possess what we cannot rightfully claim, while missing the divine offer to accept what is simply there waiting for us. In fact, the elder son is an illusion. He is nothing other than the prodigal son during those moments of delusion when he imagines that he hasn’t fled home.

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This parable is fruitfully compared and contrasted with the parable of the son who said he would but didn’t and the son who said he wouldn’t but did (Mt. 21: 28-32).

Recommended Resources Benedict XVI. Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI. Edited by Peter John Cameron. Yonkers: Magnificat, 2006. Raymond A. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1990. St. Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels. Works of the Fathers. Vol. 3, Pt. 2. London, 1843.

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