Thomas Lima csc –
Readings: Phil 3:3-8; Lk 15:1-10
St. Paul tells us that for him nothing can outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Jesus. The kind of knowledge that Paul has in mind is more than knowing about Jesus.
It is in depth-knowing, knowing with our heart and our mind, knowing him in all his self- manifestations, above all that self-manifestation that he gives in today’s gospel. For no other image describes Jesus better than “this man who welcomes sinners and eats with them”.
Jesus goes to absurd lengths to seek out sinners and bring them back to him. We have all felt that love in our own lives. nothing in all that world can compare with the supreme advantage of knowing the wondrous, for giving love of Jesus that we can experience as often as we go to confession and love all in the mass where he continues to welcome us sinners and to eat with us. Let all hearts rejoice in that love.
The spirit of faith flows from a relationship of communion with the Triune God who wills to save all people by drawing them into a lifegiving communion with Him.” We want to focus on the point that He wants to save us all in drawing closer to Him.
Yes, we easily get distracted by the things that surround us and sometimes due to our distractions in life, we get lost along the way in being closer to Him. It also said that “the spirit of faith is a spirit that allows one to unite one’s actions to the ongoing saving action of God in the world.”
In the first place, we all know that He wanted us to be saved to the point that He had died for us. We are here right now because of Him. That’s why we need to give back to Him even in just our simple ways, and I think that one of many simple ways is to love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves.