God never gives up on us.

Counting on God’s grace and believe he never gives up on you,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from allour sins.

Come back to Him. His compassion never fails.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20

Shepherd your people

Ｗith your staff, shepherd the flock of your inherit-ance that dwells alone in the scrub,

in the midst of a fertile land. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old, in the days when you went out of Egypt.

Who is a god like you, who takes away guilt and pardons crime for the remnant of his inheritance.

Who is like you whose anger does not last? For you delight in merciful forgiveness.

Once again you will show us your loving kindness and trample on our wrongs, casting all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.

 

Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12 The Lord is kind and merciful.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

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:

Jesus continued, "There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father,

'Give me my share of the estate! So the father divided his property between them.

 

Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started off for a distant land,

where he squandered his wealth in loose living. Having spent everything,

he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land.

So he hired himself out to a well-to-do citizen of that place, and was sent to work on a pig farm.

So famished was he, that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything.

 

Finally coming to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired workers have food to spare,

and here I am starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father, and say to him, Father,

I have sinned against God, and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.

Treat me then as one of your hired servants'. With that thought in mind, he set off for his father's house.

 

He was still a long way off, when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion

that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. The son said, 'Father,

I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son!'

 

But the father turned to his servants: 'Quick!' he said. 'Bring out the finest robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet!

Take the fattened calf and kill it! We shall celebrate and have a feast, for this son of mine was dead,

and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found!' And the celebration began.

Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and approached the house,

he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what it was all about.

The servant answered, 'Your brother has come home safe and sound,

and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration, and killed the fattened calf!'

 

The elder son became angry, and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him.

The son, very indignant, said, 'Look, I have slaved for you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders.

Yet you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours returns,

after squandering your property with loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

The father said, 'My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.'"

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"God never gives up on us."

"He was still a long way off, when his father caught sight of him." This line of the beautiful parable always strikes me.

It tells us that the father never gives up on his wayward son. The son has rejected his father,

treating him as if he were dead, so that he can grab hold of his inheritance at once. He wants to leave, to live his own way,

but this only leads to an emptiness and shame that is his own living death. And yet, deep within him, he feels a call to return home.

This is the voice of conscience, echoing God the Father's loving call within us, prompting us to come to our senses.

 

This helps the younger son to have the courage to go back home. But he doesn't even have to complete the journey,

as his Father is constantly looking for him on the horizon, never giving up on him, and he runs to meet his son.

God never gives up on us, whatever we have done. He is always calling to us to return to him.

He is always waiting to embrace us with his merciful love.