✝️ REFLECTION CAPSULE FOR THE DAY – November 04, 2021: Thursday
“Experiencing the saving Power and Presence of the Lord, by realizing our state of being lost, and allowing the Lord, to find us!”
(Based on 14:7-12 and Lk 15:1-10 – Thursday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time)
The Festival of Diwali is on, in India
>> This celebration of lights – Diwali – is characteristically marked by the bursting of a variety of crackers.
[NB: this reflection is not to discuss the pros and cons of bursting of crackers! :-)]
Crackers signify a mood of celebration and joy.
>> They are symbolic of a spirit of festivity and merriment.
The bursting and the sound of crackers surely spark off a message that some celebration is on & there is a mood of rejoicing and good cheer.
Today, we are in for some bursting of crackers….
But, Guess where?
Not in India… not anywhere on the earth…
>> But in Heaven!
Yes, we have crackers being burst in heaven!
Why?
>> There is much to celebrate and be glad!
The reason?
>> “There is much rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine who need no repentance” (Lk 15:7)
The Gospel of the Day is an invitation to a life of discovering God’s love and living a life in repentance.
The Fifteenth Chapter of St Luke is an amazing revelation of God’s tremendous love, mercy and longing for each one of us.
>> We have the Parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son.
In all the three parables…
… lost ones are found
… there is great celebration at the end.
… an emphasis is laid on hope for the lost.
This chapter is a contradiction of many human thought-patterns and an affirmation of many Divine thought-patterns…
There is a contradiction of the human thought-pattern of thinking of things in terms of monetary rate and financial gain.
>> There is an affirmation of the Divine thought-pattern of acknowledging the deeper value and worth of objects and people!
There is a contradiction of the human thought-pattern of giving up on things that are lost and not being bothered about it.
>> There is an affirmation of the Divine thought-pattern of desperately going after the lost and being in painful agony until found!
We are invited to shed the selfish Human thought-pattern and embrace the selfless Divine thought-pattern.
We shall consider the first two parables in this Chapter 15 – The Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin – for our reflection.
A shepherd had a hundred sheep.
During the count as he gathers the sheep at day’s end, the shepherd notices that one is missing.
>> The sheep needs to be found; otherwise it may be permanently lost or attacked by hungry predators.
The Shepherd takes the risk of leaving the rest behind, and goes out in search of the lost one.
The second parable parallels the first….
Here a silver coin has been lost.
It’s probably a drachma, which equals a denarius–a day’s wage for the average worker.
>> The coin needs to be found; else a day’s wage would be lost and would to the already existing financial burden.
The woman takes the hard trouble and effort, to sweep the house, in search of the lost coin.
In both the cases…
>> The search yields successful results… the lost sheep and the lost coin is found.
>> The success leads to a great celebration… the shepherd and the woman rejoice and party
>> The cost of the celebration far exceeds the actual price of the thing lost!
Why such a sentimentality? Why so much of economic waste?
>> The only logic behind it is: the Experience of Joy.
The Shepherd feels tremendously happy in getting back his lost sheep.
The woman feels tremendously happy in getting back her lost coin.
>> And this spurs them to forget all economics, and mathematics and tally and calculations…
Joy surpasses them all.
>> Joy overcomes them all.
>> Joy overtakes them all!
Jesus compares this same joy in heaven at the repentance of a sinner!
Am I similar to a Lost Sheep?
>> Lost…
… in the thickets of materialistic living
… lost in the valleys of doubts and rejections and failures
… lost in the bushes of excessive pride, prestige and power
… lost in the wilderness of hopelessness and meaninglessness in life
Am I similar to a Lost Coin?
>> Lost…
… in the corners of abuses and misunderstandings and false judgments
… in the darkness of bad luck and unfair treatment by life
… in the dust of corruption and malicious situations
… in the shadows of addictions and bad habits
The Lord doesn’t abandon us…. The Lord comes in search of us.
>> We ought to…
… hear His voice and respond.
… allow ourselves to be found.
… let Him take us on His shoulders.
… permit Him to take us in His hands.
God comes looking for us.
>> We are the ones that God spends hours and hours, walking miles and probing all areas, in search.
>> We are the ones that God spends hours and hours on hands and knees sweeping and searching for.
And when God finds us… He calls together all the saints in heaven, saying to them:
“Rejoice with me, for I have found my beloved sheep, my precious coin that was once lost.”
Are we – You & I – ready to give heaven a reason to celebrate, by repenting of our sins & living a life, in accord with God’s Holy Will?
Yes, the crackers in heaven are waiting to be burst…
>> Let us experience the saving power and presence of the Lord, by realizing our state of being lost…
… and allowing the Lord, to find us.
Let us seek the intercession and give heed to the words of St Charles Borromeo, the saint of the Day:
“If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you…
… do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out!”
God Bless! Live Jesus!
– Fr Jijo Jose Manjackal MSFS
📧 Email ID: _reflectioncapsules@gmail.com
Bengaluru, India
——————————–
📖 Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
THE CHURCH IS ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC
>> “This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic.”
>> These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other, indicate essential features of the Church and her mission.
>> The Church does not possess them of herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy Spirit, makes His Church one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and it is He who calls her to realize each of these qualities.
>> Only faith can recognize that the Church possesses these properties from Her Divine Source.
>> But their historical manifestations are signs that also speak clearly to human reason. As the First Vatican Council noted, the “Church herself, with her marvellous propagation, eminent holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in everything good, her catholic unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable witness of her Divine mission.” (CCC # 811-812)
——————————–
Nelson MCBS 