The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable. “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.
“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweet the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:1-10 (NABRE)
These parables reveal the profound mercy of Jesus and are a consolation to us sinners here on earth.
The mercy with which Jesus treats us is so deeply personal. It is an act of love bestowed from him onto us out of His profound desire to be engaged in a deep, intimate relationship with us that lasts for an eternity. Jesus wants to fill us with His grace and to sanctify us and bring us to a place of holiness, a place of peaceful stability in spirit with Him as the rock on which we build. However, it us not us who have to climb our way to God, for He comes to meet us and heal us. Jesus goes out and searches for the lost sheep. He sweeps the house looking for the missing coin. You are valuable in His eyes. Once He finds the sheep or spots the coin, He is overjoyed, as is the rest of Heaven. All of Heaven — the Holy Trinity, Mary, the angels, and the saints — rejoice at the repentance of a sinner, over your repentance and mine.
Jesus never stops seeking us. He aches that we repent and that He may forgive our sins and console us with His healing and strengthening grace. In John 20, Jesus gives us the Sacrament of Confession. Here He presents us with a tangible means to experience a complete washing of our souls and an overwhelming outpouring of His grace to strengthen us beyond where we were before we sinned. In the confessional we encounter Jesus in the priest, who sits and waits to forgive us, as Jesus described to St. Faustina. He invites you to come to this sacrament and to be overwhelmed by His grace. Jesus is so merciful. The content of the Gospels is dripping with the mercy of Jesus. He desires to pour His mercy into your soul. As a lover longs for his beloved, so He longs for you.
He thirsts; give Him a drink.
Thank you for reading. Peace.
Eat the Scroll 