Thursday of the Thirty-first week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day
Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
Commentary on Saint Luke's Gospel, 7, 207-209
The three parables of mercy
It is not without purpose Saint Luke has set three parables before us one after the other: the sheep that was lost and was found, the drachma that was mislaid and was found, and the prodigal son who was dead and came back to life, so that, encouraged by this threefold medicine, we might heal our wounds... Who are the father, the shepherd, the woman? Are they not God the Father, Christ and the Church? Christ who took your sins on himself carries you in his body; the Church goes looking for you; the Father welcomes you home. Like a shepherd he brings you back; like a mother it seeks you out; like a Father he clothes you. Mercy first of all, then rescue, and finally reconciliation.
Each of these details is appropriate to each one: the Redeemer comes to our help, the Church rescues, the Father reconciles. The mercy of the divine work is the same but the grace differs according to our worthiness. The wearied sheep is brought back by the shepherd, the missing drachma is found again, the son retraces his steps to his father and returns wholly repentant for the wandering off he rejects...
So let us be glad that this sheep who strayed in Adam has been restored in Christ. Christ's shoulders are the arms of the cross, it is there I have set my sins, on the noble neck of that gibbet have I found rest.
| Thursday, November 07, 2013 Weekday |
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