Humanity is continually sought out, loved, and rescued by God through His merciful heart.

Jesus explicitly described His mission as coming to "seek and to save the lost" .

God is a loving shepherd or father who actively searches

for what is lost and rejoices deeply when restoration happens.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Philippians 3:3-8a

We are the true circumcised people,

Since we serve according to the Spirit of God, and our confidence is in Christ Jesus,

rather than in our merits. I myself do not lack those human qualities

in which people have confidence. If some of them seem to be accredited

with such qualities, how much more am I! I was circumcised when eight days old.

I was born of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin;

I am a Hebrew, born of Hebrews. With regard to the law, I am a Pharisee,

and such was my zeal for the law that I persecuted the Church.

As for being righteous according to the law, I was blameless.

But once I found Christ, all those things that I might have considered as profit,

I reckoned as loss. Still more, everything seems to me as nothing

compared with the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.

 

Ps 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Let hearts rejoice who search for the Lord.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 15:1-10

Meanwhile tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus,

all of them eager to hear what he had to say. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law frowned at this,

muttering, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." So Jesus told them this parable:

"Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them,

will not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and seek the lost one till he finds it? And finding it,

will he not joyfully carry it home on his shoulders? Then he will call his friends and neighbors together,

and say, 'Celebrate with me, for I have found my lost sheep! I tell you, in the same way,

 

there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner,

than over ninety-nine decent people, who do not need to repent.

What woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, will not light a lamp,

and sweep the house in a thorough search, till she finds the lost coin? And finding it,

she will call her friends and neighbors, and say, 'Celebrate with me, for I have found the silver coin I lost!'

I tell you, in the same way, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

A God who sees beyond our state of being lost.

The Gospel today presents two beautiful images of God's love and mercy.

Portrayed as the good shepherd who seeks the lost sheep and the woman who finds her lost coin,

Jesus reveals a God who sees beyond our state of being lost, sinful, rebellious, and hard-headed.

God must have seen something in us worth seeking and finding beyond what we have done

 

or what we have failed to do. God must have seen in us a being worthy of unconditional love.

The person of Paul serves as an example. Paul, who was sought and loved by God,

not because of his merits or what he had done in the past, experienced being loved and found by God.

Are we not in the same boat as Paul, who, in one way or another,

has been lost yet found by God with His loving and merciful heart?