Our Lords Interest

The Parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke is familiar to all of us, as we are all in need of our savior. The Prodigal son has the nerve to ask for his inheritance even before his father has died. Then without thought or good conscience he goes out and spends every last penny on those things that only the world could offer. Not until he is confronted with hopeless failure and a deep despair, does he yearn to return home, to his fathers embrace.

Repentant and willing to do anything possible to win back his father's love he begins his journey back home. . . as he approaches his home to his surprise his father comes running towards him with open arms.

He embraces his son, glad that his son has returned home to him, and giving no mind to what he has done or what he has failed to do. Its a breathtaking story of God's mercy for all of us, God's patient grace, and His willingness to welcome each of us home into His loving and forgiving arms forever.

"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.

Our Lord did not come for the sake of those who are well, but for those who are in need. The soul that is lost interest Him far more than the ninety-nine that are just; the venturesome lamb that has fallen into the pit, far more that the flock that has returned dutifully home; the coin that has rolled behind the furniture, far more than the fortune of the cash-box.

His interest is in the prodigals: Mary Magdalene, the women taken in adultery, Zacchaeus the publican, Simon the Pharisee, Barabbas, and His companions on the cross. The preferences of all Christians should be of the same kind. But what integrity this demands, what moral beauty, what sanctity! Some, perhaps, may be tempted to escape the corrosive or weakening effect of such surroundings by avoiding to much contact with the masses, by seeking only the company of their friends, of those who think like them and to whom they feel more readily attracted. It is so much more pleasant to consort with those who are like you, and with whom you have ideals and interest in common.

Such a method is disastrous. If the leaven is to act upon the mass, it must be mingled with it. If it is separate from the mass, it forgets its proper task. It is a leading axiom in Catholic action not to remove good elements from the surroundings in which they exist, but rather to sanctify them so that they may serve to elevate and improve their fellows. In order to act effectively upon one's surroundings, one must live in those surroundings; and, given the necessary virtue and power of action, the closer the contact, the greater the influence will be.

It is not literally true that is has been said of us: "You are gods," and that we are to become "sons of God"? Let us give to these expressions their full Christian meaning. First and foremost, the baptized must learn to appreciate the incomparable privileges they have received by the sacrament which, in making them Christians, has brought the Blessed Trinity to dwell in their souls, and given them power to live the divine life, if only they will, and so long as they will. Let us lift up our heads and bear proudly the proud dignity of our Baptism.

How few of the baptized appreciate the essence of all revelations: that God dwells in the man who is in the state of grace? This is the campaign that is most urgently needed: to help each and every one to Realize fully, perhaps for the first time, the divine dignity that Baptism confers by engrafting us upon Christ Himself making us a living member of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, communicating to us the very life of the Blessed Trinity, making us partners in the royal priesthood of Christ and His Church, uniting us in a common kinship with all our baptized brethren by this spiritual solidarity, which is the Communion of Saints, consecrating us as living chalices, as living temples to the personal and social worship of the true God.

The highest degree of meekness consists in seeing, serving, honoring, and treating amiably, on occasion, those who are not to our taste, and who show themselves unfriendly, ungrateful, and troublesome to us.

St. Francis de Sales

Our Lords Interest

….Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (1882-1958)

Adopted sons and daughters

"This is the campaign that is most urgently needed: to help each and every one to Realize fully, perhaps for the first time, the divine dignity that Baptism confers by engrafting us upon Christ Himself "

by the RCIA team 2004 Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Hyde Park - Utah

Phone: 530-903-0121 Email: rchorrel@aol.com