As we continue our reading of Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans, he reminds us that each of us will one day have to give an account of our lives before God. Therefore, we would do well not to judge our brothers and sisters, but instead to examine our own hearts—our faults, our sins, and all that we must overcome within ourselves—before trying to correct others. Only when we confront our own weaknesses can we truly help others overcome theirs.
Saint Paul says, “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For this is why Christ died and came to life: that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”
Why then, asks Saint Paul, do we judge our brothers and sisters? It is the Lord who judges. Why do we presume to take God’s place when we assess the lives of others? Of course, as Christians, we are called to guide others toward the truth—but always with humility. Humility, humility, humility.
In other words, I must look at myself first, allow God to fix what must be fixed within me, and then, with compassion and gentleness, share that same truth with others. Our hope is always in the Lord who has been merciful to us.
In today’s Gospel from Saint Luke—the Evangelist of Mercy, the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, of Prayer, and of Healing—we hear how tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus. These were people who had wandered far from religion, who had lived according to their own desires, and yet something in Jesus drew them in. Perhaps at first it was his miracles—but more deeply, it was the love with which he looked at them and treated them.
The Pharisees and scribes, however, murmured among themselves, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” And so Jesus tells them a parable:
“What man among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully sets it on his shoulders. Upon returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbours and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.”
My brothers and sisters, as a confessor who spends hours each day hearing confessions, I can tell you: this joy in heaven is real. I have witnessed it countless times—when someone falls to their knees after years away, weeping, finally opening their heart to God again. I have seen the grace of God melt hearts of stone that had been hardened by years of sin, indifference, or pride. That same grace creates something new—a heart of flesh, a heart that loves, a heart that has longed to be loved and finally finds rest in the One who is Love itself.
We are those precious sheep of God, his beloved children—whom he tends, feeds, protects, and leads to peaceful pastures. Let us stay close to him, and close to one another. The boat in which we journey together is the Church—the Body of Christ. Within it, we share the pastures of grace, the sacraments that sustain us, and we help to keep the other sheep near, so that none are lost along the way.
Together, we journey toward the eternal joy of heaven.
May Almighty God bless you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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