Homily for
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 15, 2019
For the Conversion
of Sinners
The year
was 1887, and Paris was rocked by the crime of the decade – an Italian man,
Henri Pranzini, had been convicted of burglary and triple homicide. He was
sentenced to be executed by guillotine, and all through his trial and
imprisonment he showed no remorse.
A
fourteen-year-old girl read about his story in the newspaper – and made it her
mission to pray for his conversion. For weeks she prayed, fasted, and made
sacrifices for him, begging God for his salvation and for some sign that he
would repent. But nothing seemed to be working – he refused to see a priest,
and was as obstinate as ever.
On the
day of his execution, he went to the gallows with a surly attitude, angry and
unrepentant. A priest accompanied him up the scaffold, hoping that he would
have a change of heart, but he continually refused Confession. Finally, just
before they forced him down upon the block to chop off his head, he grabbed the
priest’s crucifix and kissed the Sacred Wounds of Jesus three times.
When the
14-year-old girl read about this the next day, she was flooded with joy – here
was her sign of repentance! Her fasting, her prayers, her supplications to God
for this man’s soul – they worked! And this girl, now known as St. Therese of
Lisieux, never ceased praying for sinners from that moment on.
We see
from our readings that Jesus desperately
desires to have mercy on souls. But He can only have mercy on a soul that
is repentant. Notice that the father did not chase after his son in today’s
parable – the son first had to “come to his senses” and repent. In Greek, the
word for repentance is “metanoia” – which literally means “turning around” –
and this is exactly what this young man does. Once he turns back to the Father,
then the Father runs to him with open arms.
But how
many souls do not repent! At Fatima, Our Lady told the three children, “Pray
and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because there is no
one to make sacrifices for them!” We
must be the ones to pray and make sacrifices for sinners! Eternal souls can
literally be saved, rescued, transformed – because of our prayers and
sacrifices!
In our
first reading, Moses is doing just that – he is making intercession for his
people. God is furious about Israel’s idolatry – God had led them out of Egypt literally
fifteen chapters before, and now they are making a golden calf to worship! He
is ready to destroy them, but Moses stands in the breach and pleads with God –
and the Lord has mercy upon them.
We must be like Moses! As we look around
at the world, we see the constant proliferation of sin – just turn on the TV if
you have any doubt (on second thought, don’t turn on the TV! Nothing good
there!). But how many people are praying for the conversion of the world? I
mean, really, how many people pray for a pop star’s conversion? Or politicians?
Or those talk-show hosts who film next door? Or your brother or sister who is
away from the Faith? Now, I don’t know their souls or their relationship with
God, but these people could be a great force for Christ if they experienced the
power of His mercy!
But I
must be clear – we are not called to pray for sinners out of some sense of
superiority, as if we’ve got it all together and they’re the reprobates. No, we
pray for them because like them we are sinners too – but with one important
difference: we know the sweetness of the Lord’s mercy. When Pope Francis was
first elected, he was asked by a reporter, “Who are you? If you had to tell the
world who Pope Francis is, what would you say?” And the Pope said very simply,
“I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.” This is the state of every
Christian – to say with St. Paul, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners, of which I am the foremost.”
A woman
once complimented St. John Vianney on being a very good confessor. He replied,
“If I am a good Confessor, it is because I am a great sinner.” The Protestant
pastor D.T. Niles had a great quote – he said, “Christianity is one beggar
telling another beggar where he found bread.” I would also say that
Christianity is about one sinner telling another sinner where he found
forgiveness.
So, we
pray for sinners, we sacrifice for sinners, we witness to sinners about how the
Lord has had mercy on us. Souls are in danger of being lost for eternity – so
let us get started.
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