THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Third Sunday after Pentecost 17 June 2012

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Our Lord associated Himself with sinners and justified these actions with the parable given in today’s Gospel. The flock of one hundred represents a completion. One hundred is ten decades. If only one is missing the hundred is not complete. For there to be peace and joy there must be completion even in the smallest part; all must be fulfilled or present.

So we see the ninety-nine left safely in the wilderness while the shepherd goes in search of the one. We must not consider that the ninety-nine are of less importance than the one, but rather that, the Shepherd can only be happy and content when all of the sheep are safe and secure in the flock. The loss of even the smallest one makes the flock incomplete and disturbs the peace and joy that can only be had when all is in order -- complete. The sinner that has fallen therefore is vital and precious in the eyes of God. This is why God left all the angels in Heaven and came to this earth to find and save lost mankind.

The ten decades also remind us of the Ten Commandments. In this light we learn that we must be faithful in every detail of each Commandment. Nothing stained in the least way can ever enter into Heaven. We must be perfect because our Heavenly Father is perfect. Every sin is a void of the grace that should be there. If we are failing in any commandment or even in only one small part of that commandment we must go after it searching and working to fill that void. We are never going to find true peace or joy until we have fulfilled all the law in all its aspects.

The silver coins present us with similar ideas. Every coin was impressed with the king’s image. In like manner every human soul bears the image of God its creator and King. When we are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and our souls are cleansed of all sin and we are raised from the death of sin to the life of grace, the image of God upon our souls becomes complete. To insult or abuse the image of the king is considered an insult or abuse on the king himself. Likewise if we defile our souls we insult or abuse God. When we lose grace through sin, the image of God in our souls is insulted and defaced. In this manner this image born on the coin is lost with the very coin of our soul itself. So we are given this lesson that when we look into our souls and see some reflection of God missing, that it is time to light the lamp with prayer and grace from God and to begin sweeping with an examination of our conscious with the spirit of penance.

Our lives then become because of sin a constant searching and sweeping. God and the Church respectively, in a certain manner, search and sweep in an effort to restore us to God and to the Church. We must likewise do our part. It is not enough for us to passively wait to the found and saved. It is said that Christ redeemed us without our cooperation but that He cannot save us without our help. We need to do our part to fill up what was lacking in Christ’s efforts to save us. (Col 1, 24) We should actively seek to be found; we must not resist being found and returned to the flock of Christ. Above and beyond this we must make the effort to search our own selves. God has given us a conscience so that we may seek ourselves out when we have gone astray or have been lost to the life of grace.

This entire life of ours has been given to us so that we will have sufficient time to find ourselves and our way into Heaven. The Catechism teaches us that God has made us to be happy with Him in Heaven and that to reach this goal we must know, love, and serve Him in this life. In seeking the knowledge, love, and service of God we make ourselves docile and receptive of God’s graces and available to be found by Him and brought to His Church – the flock here on earth – and through the Church we are brought into the flock of Angels and Saints in Heaven.