One Minute Reflection – 15 September – Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 15:1–32 and the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ ... Luke 15:6
REFLECTION – “Since man’s weakness is incapable of maintaining a firm step in this changing world, the good doctor shows you a remedy against going astray and the merciful judge does not withhold hope of forgiveness. It is not without reason that Saint Luke put forward three parables in succession – the sheep who strayed and was found again; the coin that was lost and found; the son who died and came back to life. This is so that this threefold remedy will urge us to take care of our wounds… The weary sheep is brought back by the shepherd, the lost coin is found, the son turns back and returns to his father, repenting of his waywardness…
Let us rejoice, then, in that this sheep, which went astray in Adam, has been raised up again in Christ. Christ’s shoulders are the arms of the cross, there it is that I have laid down my sins, on that gallows I have found my rest. This “sheep” is one according to its nature but not in personality, since all form a single body composed of many in members. That is why it is written: “You are Christ’s body and individually parts of it,” (1Cor 12:27). “The Son of Man has come to save what was lost” (Lk 19:10), that is to say everyone, since “just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life” (1Cor 15:22)…
Nor, is it irrelevant, that the woman rejoices to have found her coin – it is no small thing, this coin on which is portrayed the image of a prince. In the same way, the good of the Church is the image of the King. We are sheep, let us then pray the Lord to lead us to restful waters (Ps 22[23]:2). We are sheep, let us ask for pasture. We are the coin, let us keep our value. We are sons, let us run to the Father.” … St Ambrose (340-397) – Bishop of Milan, Father & Doctor of the Church – On St Luke’s Gospel, 7, 207 (SC 52)
PRAYER – Look upon us Lord, creator and ruler of the whole world, grant us the grace to serve You with all our heart, that we may come to know, the power of Your forgiveness and love. Our Father, when Jesus Your Son, was raised up on the Cross, it was Your will that Mary, His Mother, should stand there and suffer with Him in her heart. Grant that in union with her, the Church may share in the passion of Christ and so be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Be our intercessor and our consolation, Our Lady of Sorrows! We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.
AnaStpaul 