Thursday, November 4, 2021 - Thirty-first week in Ordinary Time - Come to me, all of you who toil under the weight of the burden, says the Lord, and I will give you rest - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 15, 1-10

Once again, Jesus speaks in parables and gives two cases of how God views the sinner who returns to the path of righteousness. Indeed, a sinner who repents is a source of immense joy for God.

We are all sinners, and it is precisely in this weakness that we must ask God for his grace and humility in order to be able to return to him. Sinners that we are, we can neither judge nor condemn others. We cannot, like the Pharisees and the scribes, see ourselves as righteous and label others as sinners. On the contrary, seeing others fall, the best attitude is to sympathize and accompany them with our prayers so that they can resume the right path of repentance. When we become aware of our state of sinners, Jesus comes to relieve our soul and puts us, who are lost sheep, back into the enclosure. To refuse this state of disgrace is only pride and vanity which make us think that we do not care about the mercy of God.

By reciting the prayer that we have received from the Lord, we must consider ourselves sinners and by the sacrament of reconciliation, we find the grace to be in the enclosure where is the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

These parables show how much Jesus loves sinners. All the more reason for us, who are all sinners, to support ourselves in the fight against sin and to love one another as Christ loved us. There is no greater joy for God than to see us turn to him.