FIRST READING Ezekiel 34:11-16 Thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel in the land's ravines and all its inhabited places . In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal but the sleek and the strong I will destroy , shepherding them rightly.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 23:1-3a,3b-4,5,6
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul. R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side With your rod and your staff that give me courage. R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come. R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
SECOND READING Romans 5:5b-11 Brothers and sisters: The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
ALLELUIA John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my sheep, and mine know me.
GOSPEL Luke 15:3-7 Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees and scribes: "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance."
FAUSTI - The lover of the Will of God, who at Psalm 119 sings his obedience to the Word, recognizes, after 175 verses, "as a lost sheep, I am wandering: seek your servant because I have not forgotten Your commandments" (Ps 119:176). Whoever does not forget the Commandments, which are summed up in mercy (6:36), cannot fail to see that he is lost in the meanders of his own justice. He is finally a deflated hydropic, a Pharisee healed of presumption. He knows that salvation is to be found and met by the One whom he seeks to find without ever meeting him. In reality, every man, from the beginning, has hidden himself from God and lost himself. The only just one is Christ, the Shepherd who became a lost and sacrificed Lamb for us. This parable speaks of conversion; but not of the sinner to justice, but of the righteous to Mercy. The Grace that God has used towards us, His enemies, must be reflected in our attitude towards our enemies and sinners brothers. The Father does not exclude any child from His Heart. Only the one who excludes a brother is excluded from Him. But Jesus, the Son who knows the Father, is concerned to recover also the one who, excluding his brother, excludes himself from the Father. With this parable, Jesus justifies His attitude towards sinners, shows them the same benevolence as the Father, and this is the reason for God's joy: He has found His Son in whom He has placed all His joy. In the Son, lost for his brothers and sisters, He has found all His children. This sudden joy will explode in heaven, House of God, when the ninety-nine sheep in the desert will identify with the only one lost and found sheep. It is a hymn of salvation, whose first notes began above the manger. It will be fulfilled when all are converted, even the righteous. In reality, the sheep has not converted, just as the drachma will not return to itself in its purse. They are simply found, precisely because they are lost by the One who first converted Himself to them in His Love. Conversion implies a recognition of one's own perdition, and, rather than our return to God, it consists in welcoming the One who has come to seek us. To convert is to turn one's gaze from one's self to God, and to see, instead of one's nakedness, the eye of the One who has always looked at us with Love. Then new life is born, in the praise and joy of the Father. Whoever seeks his own justice by law, has nothing to do with Christ, is outside the grace of the Father and His feast for the Son.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER In the vision of Jesus there are no sheep definitively lost, but only sheep that must be found. We must understand this well: for God no one is definitively lost. Never! Until the last moment, God seeks us. Think about the good thief; but only in the vision of Jesus is no one definitively lost. The perspective is therefore all dynamic, open, stimulating and creative. It impels us to go out in search to undertake a journey of brotherhood. No distance can keep the shepherd away; and no flock can renounce a brother". (Ud. General May 4, 2016)
FIRST READING Ezekiel 34:11-16
RispondiEliminaThus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel in the land's ravines and all its inhabited places . In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal but the sleek and the strong I will destroy , shepherding them rightly.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 23:1-3a,3b-4,5,6
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
SECOND READING Romans 5:5b-11
Brothers and sisters: The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
ALLELUIA John 10:14
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
GOSPEL Luke 15:3-7
Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees and scribes: "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance."
FAUSTI - The lover of the Will of God, who at Psalm 119 sings his obedience to the Word, recognizes, after 175 verses, "as a lost sheep, I am wandering: seek your servant because I have not forgotten Your commandments" (Ps 119:176).
RispondiEliminaWhoever does not forget the Commandments, which are summed up in mercy (6:36), cannot fail to see that he is lost in the meanders of his own justice. He is finally a deflated hydropic, a Pharisee healed of presumption. He knows that salvation is to be found and met by the One whom he seeks to find without ever meeting him.
In reality, every man, from the beginning, has hidden himself from God and lost himself.
The only just one is Christ, the Shepherd who became a lost and sacrificed Lamb for us.
This parable speaks of conversion; but not of the sinner to justice, but of the righteous to Mercy.
The Grace that God has used towards us, His enemies, must be reflected in our attitude towards our enemies and sinners brothers.
The Father does not exclude any child from His Heart.
Only the one who excludes a brother is excluded from Him. But Jesus, the Son who knows the Father, is concerned to recover also the one who, excluding his brother, excludes himself from the Father.
With this parable, Jesus justifies His attitude towards sinners, shows them the same benevolence as the Father, and this is the reason for God's joy: He has found His Son in whom He has placed all His joy. In the Son, lost for his brothers and sisters, He has found all His children.
This sudden joy will explode in heaven, House of God, when the ninety-nine sheep in the desert will identify with the only one lost and found sheep.
It is a hymn of salvation, whose first notes began above the manger.
It will be fulfilled when all are converted, even the righteous.
In reality, the sheep has not converted, just as the drachma will not return to itself in its purse. They are simply found, precisely because they are lost by the One who first converted Himself to them in His Love.
Conversion implies a recognition of one's own perdition, and, rather than our return to God, it consists in welcoming the One who has come to seek us.
To convert is to turn one's gaze from one's self to God, and to see, instead of one's nakedness, the eye of the One who has always looked at us with Love.
Then new life is born, in the praise and joy of the Father.
Whoever seeks his own justice by law, has nothing to do with Christ, is outside the grace of the Father and His feast for the Son.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaIn the vision of Jesus there are no sheep definitively lost, but only sheep that must be found. We must understand this well: for God no one is definitively lost. Never! Until the last moment, God seeks us. Think about the good thief; but only in the vision of Jesus is no one definitively lost. The perspective is therefore all dynamic, open, stimulating and creative. It impels us to go out in search to undertake a journey of brotherhood. No distance can keep the shepherd away; and no flock can renounce a brother". (Ud. General May 4, 2016)