Philippians 3:3-8; Ps 105 Let hearts rejoice who search for the Lord; Luke 15:1-10
We encounter these words from the pen of St Paul today, "More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."
In light of that today spend some time and energy seeking to find the gain in each of life's losses What I mean is be attentive to the supreme good of knowing Christ and allow that to fill the loss with greater significance and importance in the life of faith.
Today's psalm is a fascinating piece. If we go to 1 Chronicles 16:8 and following we will encounter this psalm being used in the context of King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. It was a day of great festivity. The whole city turned out to welcome the presence of the Ark, the present of God back into their city, its rightful place.
The psalm mentions we should "seek to serve the Lord constantly." Perhaps this is the recipe of happiness and lasting joy. How many of us truly seek to serve the Lord constantly? Rather, do we not reduce our service of the lord often to an hour a week or sometimes even less? How do we seek the lord in our daily lives, our work, our play, every moment.
In today's gospel we encounter the familiar story of the lost sheep and its shepherd who abandon the 99 to go out and seek the one that has strayed.
In this context Jesus reminds us that the heavens rejoice over one repentant sinner.
Repent is the first command of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew. In a sense, everything else follows, and nothing else matters. When was the last time we revised our thinking or changed our minds about how God works? When do we bring joy to heaven? Too often we forget that our actions here below reach upward to eternity in heaven.
Self-righteous complacency is the most effective barrier to God's grace and the cause of great sadness in heaven. Today be a source of joy, repent!
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