Always Accepted
The Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 11, 2022
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Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 51; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-32
Today’s readings show us something about God’s positive plan for human life, which is necessary for us to hear on this memorial of September 11th and with all the other tragic events in our news cycle: the mounting urgency of climate change, the war in Ukraine and other migrants fleeing oppression and starvation, and our own social and economic unrest. Life is hard for many people, and the current system doesn’t always help people to the degree that they need.
The parables of Jesus are shocking reversals of commonly held beliefs about the way things should be. Jesus likens the parables he tells to show some aspect of the kingdom of God, which is to be lived out in our earthly life. These stories give us a chance to turn our lives around to experience a rebirth and a new being. These stories are timeless and cause us to wonder if we are living in a manner God intends for all humanity, and it proposes at type of liberation that allows us to engage in the struggle of our faith without any real fear.
The story of the Prodigal Son is mostly not about the son, but about the Father’s overflowing love and acceptance that doesn’t make sense in human judgments. He is the one whose love is restless until his wayward son comes home again. His love is active as well because he is always watching, always expecting his son to return, and when he does see him, he runs to greet the repentant, remorseful son who has wronged him, but his love longs for the restoration of the relationship.
The Father in the story no doubt refers to God, who values all human life and is hurt when others are injured. This story is about creating a world in which all find acceptance and do not suffer injury. God’s judgment is rooted in compassion, and God intends to protect the victim, which includes the returning son and his righteous, obedient brother. God’s judgment on the older brother is to admonish his failure to recognize the exalted position he already holds. The father in the story acts out of sadness at what happened to the younger brother and has compassion upon him. God always hopes for more and looks for change, and that is the moral of the story. God wants the same for us.
Jesus invites us to look at the effect of being loved and accepted by God in such a way. This love gave the younger son a new opportunity to experience life once again. He has the chance for transformation. The Father still loves the older son with the same hope and expectation, and it gives us hope that we can achieve reconciliation.
We are to see God’s grace in this story. We are to ponder the mystery of God’s love and compassion amid perplexing, but common enough human action and freedom. God sustains human freedom, and still hopes for the best for us. This God welcomes the lost who return and reconciles the alienated. This story endures for all ages and it gives hope for each of us.
Scripture for Daily Mass
First Reading:
Monday: (1 Corinthians 11) First of all, I hear that when you meet as a Church there are divisions among you, and to a degree I believe it; there have to be factions among you in order that also those who are approved among you may become known.
Tuesday: (1 Corinthians 12) As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Wednesday: (Numbers 21) With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!”
Thursday: (1 Corinthians 15) For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
Friday (1 Corinthians 15) If Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.
Saturday (1 Corinthians 15) So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.
Gospel:
Monday: (Luke 7) A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave.
Tuesday: (Luke 7) Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
Wednesday (John 3) “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
Thursday (John 19) Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Friday (Luke 8) Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.
Saturday (Luke 8) Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.”
Saints of the Week
September 12: The Name of Mary was given to the child in the octave that follow her birth on September 8th. Mary (Miriam) was a popular name for a girl because it means "beloved."
September 13: John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor (347-407) was a gifted homilist and was called "Golden Mouth" because his words inspired many. He was raised in Antioch and joined a community of austere hermits but the lifestyle damaged his health. He became the archbishop of Constantinople where he introduced many conservative and unpopular reforms. He fled to escape an uprising from the people and on the way to exile he died.
September 14: The Triumph of the Holy Cross remembers the finding of the true cross by the Emperor Constantine's mother, Helen in early 4th century. Two churches were dedicated in the name of the cross on this day in the 4th century. Therefore, the feast was applied to this day. In the 7th century, the feast was renamed, "The Triumph." The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 335 was also dedicated on this day.
September 15: Our Lady of Sorrows was once called the Seven Sorrows of Mary as introduced by the Servite Friars. After suffering during his captivity in France, Pius VII renamed the devotion that encapsulates: Simeon's prophecy, the flight into Egypt, searching for Jesus at age 12 in the Temple, the road to Calvary, the crucifixion, the deposition, and the entombment.
September 16: Cornelius, pope and martyr (d. 253) and Cyprian, bishop and martyr (200-258) both suffered in the Decian persecutions. Cornelius was being attacked by Novatian, but since Novatian's teachings were condemned, he received the support of the powerful bishop, Cyprian. Cyprian was a brilliant priest and bishop of Carthage who wrote on the unity of the church, the role of bishops, and the sacraments. Cyprian died under Valerius after supporting his church in exile by letters of encouragement.
September 17: Robert Bellarmine, S.J., bishop and doctor (1542-1621) became a Jesuit professor at the Louvain and then professor of Controversial theology at the Roman College. He wrote "Disputations on the controversies of the Christian faith against the Heretics of this age," which many Protestants appreciated because of its balanced reasoning. He revised the Vulgate bible, wrote catechisms, supervised the Roman College and the Vatican library, and was the pope's theologian.
This Week in Jesuit History
- September 11, 1681. At Antwerp, the death of Fr. Geoffry Henschen (Henschenius). A man of extraordinary learning, he was Fr. Jan von Bolland's assistant in compiling the Acts of the Saints.
- September 12, 1744. Benedict XIV's second Bull, Omnium Sollicitudinum, forbade the Chinese Rites. Persecution followed in China.
- September 13, 1773. Frederick II of Prussia informed the pope that the Jesuits would not be suppressed in Prussia and invited Jesuits to come.
- September 14, 1596. The death of Cardinal Francis Toledo, the first of the Society to be raised to the purple. He died at age 63, a cardinal for three years.
- September 15, 1927. Thirty-seven Jesuits arrived in Hot Springs, North Carolina, to begin tertianship. The property was given to the Jesuits by the widow of the son of President Andrew Johnson.
- September 16, 1883. The twenty-third General Congregation opened at Rome in the Palazzo Borromeo (via del Seminario). It elected Fr. Anthony Anderledy Vicar General with the right of succession.
- September 17, 1621. The death of St Robert Bellarmine, bishop, and doctor of the Church.
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