Sunday, 24C."I will arise and go to my Father": in Mass God lifts us out of the mire of sin and shame of guilt, clothing us in the garment of His love

The shame and revulsion resulting from sin, which threaten the dignity of the human person, are removed only by the Father, whose embrace of love in Christ is ours every time we arise and return to the Lord from the experience of the mire of loathing resulting from the rejection of human dignity in sin.

He waits for us, runs to meet us in Christ and, because He can forgive our sins, restores completely to us once again what was lost through the abuse of our freedom.

If Jesus Christ is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, and if the holy Mass is the banquet of this Lamb's saving Sacrifice presented again in an unbloody manner, should we not anticipate and presume upon the redemption offered over and over again in this manner ordained by Christ?

'Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.' He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father's boundless mercy for them and the vast 'joy in heaven over one sinner who repents'. The supreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life 'for the forgiveness of sins'. (CCC 525)

The loss of our pristine baptismal dignity because of sin should never leave us in danger of despair.

"With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. Our petition begins with a 'confession' of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, 'we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.' We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church. (CCC 2839)

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.

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Read the full text of the homily for the 24th Sunday of the Year at A Priest Life by clicking here.