A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke. The tax collectors and sinners were all gathered around to hear Jesus at which the pharisees and the scribes murmured, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Then Jesus addressed this parable to them. Who among you, if he has a 100 sheep and loses one of the 100, does not leave the 99 in the wasteland and follow the lost one until he finds it. And when he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders in jubilation.
Once arrived home, he invites friends and neighbors in and says to them, rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep. I tell you, there will likewise be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 righteous people who have no need to repent. What woman, if she has 10 silver pieces and loses one of them, does not light a lamp and sweep the house in a diligent search until she has recovered what she's lost. And when she finds it, she calls in her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me. I have found the silver piece that I've lost.
I tell you, says Jesus, there will be the same kind of joy before the angels of god over one repentant sinner. And this is the gospel of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. The church is mindful of the month of November where we face up to the fact that all men who are born die. And dying, what happens to them?
That's a good question. How we answer it? The church has an answer, and the answer is is frightfully important. It's awesomely important because it views this life simply as the preface, as the introduction, and in many ways, the determinant of our truest life, of our eternal happiness with God almighty. Now, today, all of most of this is down downgraded today.
How much do you hear about sin, the judgment of God, eternity, loss of heaven, hell, purgatory. And yet if you read the gospels, you can't avoid it. Our blessed lord time and again holds up the idea that you must this life is simply a veil of tears. This life is simply a battlefield. This life is simply a period of trial for which we will all have to give an accounting, a personal accounting, not a collective accounting, not a community accounting, not a not an accounting of the assembly or the people or the congregation or the community.
It is my own personal accounting that I must stand before God and face his awful truthfulness. This is not my idea. This is what our Lord says and says it time and again. So let's not be afraid to face up to it. Let us not minimize it.
But it's so easy to take one part of this great drama and forget the other parts. Now today, you see, here we have Saint Paul speaking absolutely explicitly about how we are responsible for our living and how one day each individual will stand before God to give an accounting of what he has done in this life. And notice what Saint Paul emphasizes here this morning is how we have judged our fellow human being. Paul says, don't do it. And then in the gospel, we have our blessed lord giving us hope.
No matter how bad that accounting may be. None of us will appear before him with a perfect record, none of us. It's impossible for us to be perfect. So as we stand before God, there will be none of us who cannot thump his chest and say, And if he doesn't know any Latin, he can say, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. There's none of us can escape it.
But you see, the church immediately says, now look it, don't be downcast. This is the fact you're going to appear before God and give an accounting of your life. But don't and it's not going to be a perfect record. There are going to be a lot of blemishes in it and some worse than others. But there'll be some in every life, but that's no cause for being downhearted or faint hearted or a cause of despair or of hopelessness.
No. The church here gives us the gospel of Saint Luke where our lord is saying, look, what shepherd having a 100? What woman having a number of gold silver coins loses one doesn't go out and try to find the one. Now it may not make much sense for a shepherd to abandon 99 sheep to go out and get one. That's not very good stewardship in many ways, but our blessed lord says that's the way it is with God and us.
And notice, he even says that there will be more joy in heaven on one sinner coming back to god doing penance, repenting, then upon 99 just. Now that's what our lord says. Now, it's so matter so it's not a matter of fear. It's not a matter of our saying, ye gods, what a life I've led. I I'm a lost soul.
I I appear before God in fear and trembling. No. That isn't the way it is. That isn't the message of Christ. The message of Christ is sure you're going to appear before God and you're going to give your own personal accounting how you have lived this life.
But don't despair. Don't be abashed. Don't think that you are a lost soul. That's downright unchristian. That's a downright rejection of Jesus Christ and his good news.
Now when Christ says sinner, he means sinner. He isn't talking about people who are all rambunctious about some little picadillo. When Christ says sinner, he means sinner, and you name it, he knows it. And yet we are told in this today's gospel how when one sinner repents now repent means you turn back. When one sinner repents, there's more joy in heaven over that than upon 99 just.
But don't ask me to this is what our lord says. I'm not running heaven. As I say, anybody who's taking care of sheep or things of that sort, they'll say this doesn't make much sense. Our Lord said this, that the shepherd leaves his 99 in a desolate place. Notice that, to go after the one that was lost.
And then he takes it up lovingly. He doesn't beat it over the head. He doesn't curse it for being causing him all this trouble. He picks it up lovingly. Picks it up lovingly and carries it because the sheep is weary.
The sheep is downhearted. The sheep has lost its courage. It stopped running. This is a wonderful passage and it certainly is good news, but we've got to take this with all the rest. This is the point.
As I say, to be a Christian means to live intention above all to be a Catholic. We live in attention all the time. If only we could say this is all there is to it, it would be so much more comfortable. But we hold things together and holding things together which are pulling apart creates tension. And that's how we live.
A violin string that isn't other under tension isn't much of a string. You don't get much sound out of a of a loose string. And so let us take to heart this is a great month this month of November. It's a month where we were stepping into the future and in many ways you see the future becomes present for the person who is doing the dying and there are plenty of people dying right now just as there are plenty of people being born. That's life.
It is a measure of time that it seems to go so fast, so quickly, so limpid lease that we can't get a hold of it. And before we know it, it's gone and we're speaking more of the past than of a future. You see the church has all of this. It tries to give us the good news. It doesn't give us a little bit of this or a little jot of that or a tittle of that.
It gives us the whole message and it's that whole message we must take to heart. And it's a message of joy, it's a message of accountability, it's a message of responsibility, it's a message to come follow Jesus Christ our leader who will goes out goes out of his way to pick up the lost and to bring them back. So let's be consoled and let us remember that being consoled in our own mind, our prayers, our good works, our masses during this month can put us into contact with those who are now in between and can put us in contact with the saints who have made it. We are all one. And that's the thought that should dominate our mind.
How at this month of November, the church pulls together in its totality. We are all in different levels but we are all one and we can intercommunicate. That's the point. And the church says that is true and the church said it when a lot of people were saying it ain't true. So let us rejoice and be glad, but let us take this solemn truth that we one day stand before God himself to give an account of how we've lived our lives.
In the name of the father and the son, holy spirit. Amen.