Luke, XV, 1-7. The lost sheep.

"Who is there," said he, "a man who, having a hundred sheep and one of them gone astray, does not leave the ninety-nine in the

desert to go after the one that went astray? ".

You had learned above to avoid negligence, to avoid arrogance, to acquire devotion, not to be captive to the affairs of the world, not to prefer what perishes to what lasts. But as human weakness does not know how to keep a steady step in such a slippery world, the good doctor has yet shown you the remedies against misguidance, the merciful judge has not refused the hope of forgiveness. So it is not without reason that St. Luke proposed three parables in succession: the sheep that had gone astray and was found, the drachma that had been lost and found itself, the son who had died and took over life, so that this triple remedy commits you to heal your wounds; for "a triple rope will not rot" (Eccl., IV, 12). Who are this father, this pastor, this woman? Is it not God the Father, the Christ, the Church? Christ carries you in his body, having taken upon him your sins; the Church seeks you, the Father welcomes you. Pastor He reports, mother seeks, Father He puts on: first mercy, then assistance, third reconciliation. Every detail is adjusted to everyone: the Redeemer helps, the Church attends, the Father is reconciled. It is the same mercy of the divine work, but grace varies according to our merits. The weary sheep is brought back by the pastor, the lost drachma is found again, the son turns back towards his father, and returns fully repentant of a misguidance which he condemns. So it is precisely written: "You will save men and animals, Lord" (Ps 35, 7). What are these beasts? The Prophet said that the seed of Israel will be a seed of men, and that of Judah seed of animals (Jer. XXXI, 27): thus Israel is saved as a man, Judah gathered like a sheep. I therefore prefer to be sons than ewes: for the sheep is sought by the pastor, the son celebrated by the father. Let us rejoice, therefore, that this sheep, which was lost in Adam, is raised up in Christ. The shoulders of Christ are the arms of the Cross: it is there that I deposited my sins, it is on the noble neck of this gallows that I rested. This ewe is unique in gender, not specifically; for "all of us are one body" (I Cor., X, 17), but many members, and that is why it is written, "You are the body of Christ, and members of his members" ( Ib., XII, 27). For "the Son of man came to save what had perished" (Lk, XIX, 10), that is to say, all, since "as all die in Adam, so in Christ all receive the life "(I Cor., XV, 22). He is therefore a rich pastor, since all of us are one hundredth of his share.

 He possesses the innumerable herds of angels, the archangels, the dominions, the powers, the thrones (Col., I, 16), and others, which he has left on the heights. And since they are reasonable, it is not without motive that they rejoice at the redemption of men; Moreover, it is still a stimulant to be good, to know that your conversion is pleasant to the troops of angels, each of whom must seek patronage or fear disgrace. Be ye also joy for the angels; they are looking forward to your return.

Luke, XV, 8-10. The drachma found.

It is not indifferent either that this woman rejoices to have found the drachma; it is not less than this drachma in which the effigy of the prince appears; so the image of the King is to have it from the Church. We are ewes: let us pray to lead us to the water that revives (Psalm 22: 2); we are ewes, I say: ask for pastures. We are drachmas, keep our value. We are sons, let's run to the Father.

Luke, XV, 11-32. The prodigal son.

And let us not be afraid if we have squandered in earthly pleasures the heritage of spiritual dignity we had received; for the Father has given to the Son the treasure he had, the fortune of faith is never exhausted. Would one have given everything, one has everything, not having lost what one has given. And do not fear that he does not welcome you: for "God does not take pleasure in the loss of the living" (Sag., I, 13). Here he comes to meet you: He will look at your neck - for "the Lord restores those who are broken" (Ps 145: 8) - He will give you the kiss, which is a pledge of tenderness and love, He will make you give dress, ring, shoes. You are still afraid of an affront; He gives you back your dignity; you dread a torture,

He gives you a kiss; you fear reproaches, He is preparing a feast. But it is time to explain the parable itself. . " A man had two sons ; and the youngest says to him: Give me my share of fortune. "

You see that the divine heritage is given to those who ask. And do not believe that the father is at fault for having given to the youngest: there is no low age for the Kingdom of God, and faith does not feel the weight of the years. In any case, the one who asked found himself capable; and please God that he was not far from his father! he would not have experienced the inconvenience of his age. But once he's gone abroad - so it's fair that you waste your heritage when you've moved away from the church - afterwards, he said, that having left the father's house he left for the abroad, in a distant country .... What is more remote than to leave one's self, to be separated not by space, but by manners, from differing in tastes, not by countries, and the excesses of the world? interposing their waves, to be distant by driving? For whoever separates himself from Christ is exiled from his country, is a citizen of the world. But we, "we are not strangers and passing, but we are citizens of the sanctuary, and of the house of God" (Ephes., II, 19); for "far removed as we were, we were brought together in the blood of Christ" (Ib., 13). Let us not be evil toward those who come back from far off, since we too have been in a far country, as Isaiah teaches; you read, "For those who dwelt in the land of the mortal shadow, the light has risen" (Is., IX, 2). The distant land is therefore that of the mortal shadow; but we who have the breath of our face the Lord Christ (Lam. IV, 20) live in the shadow of Christ; and this is why the Church says: "I desired her shadow, and I sat there" (Cant., II, 3). - So this one, living in debauchery, wasted all the ornaments of his nature: then you who have received the image of God, who bear his likeness, beware of destroying it by an unreasonable deformity. You are the work of God; Do not say to the wood: "My father, it is you" (Jer., II, 27); do not take the likeness of wood, since it is written, "Let those who make (idols) become like unto them" (Ps 113, 2, 8)!

"There came a famine in this country": famine not food, but good works and virtues. Is it fasts more lamentable? Indeed, whoever departs from the word of God is hungry, since "one does not live only with bread, but with every word of God" (Lc, IV, 4). Departing from the source one is thirsty, moving away from the treasure one is poor, deviating from the wisdom one is stupid, deviating from the virtue one is destroyed. It was therefore right that he should fail, having neglected the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God (Col., II, 3) and the depth of heavenly riches. So he came to miss and feel hunger, because nothing is enough for lavish pleasure. We always feel hungry when we can not fill eternal foods. He went, therefore, to attach himself to one of the citizens; he who is attached is caught in the net, and it seems that this citizen is the prince of this world. In short he is sent to his farm - the one whose buyer apologizes for the Kingdom (Lk, xviii, 18 and above) - and he grazes the pigs: those no doubt in which the devil asks to enter, those whom he throws into the sea of ​​this world (Matt., VIII, 32), those who live in filth and stench. And he wished, it is said, to stuff his stomach with acorns: for the debauchees have no other care than to stuff their belly, their belly being their god (Phil., III, 19). And what food is more suitable for such men than the one who, like the glans, digs inside, soft on the outside, made not to feed, but to force the body, heavier than useful? There are some who see in the pigs the troops of the demons, in the acorns the puny virtue of the vain men and the verbiage of their speeches which can not be of any profit: by a vain seduction of philosophy and by the loud din of their they are more brilliant than useful.

 But such amenities can not last: so "no one gave them to them": it was in the region where there is no one, because it does not contain those who are. For "all nations are counted for nothing" (Is., XL, 17); but there is only God to "restore life to the dead and call that which is not like what is" (Rom., IV, 17). "And coming to him, he said, How many loaves of bread have my father's mercenaries! It is very true that he returns to him, having left himself: for to return to the Lord is to find oneself, and whoever departs from Christ, denies himself. As for the mercenaries, who are they? Is it not those who serve for pay, those of Israel? They do not pursue what is good out of zeal for righteousness; they are attracted not by the charm of virtue, but by the search for their profit. But the son, who has in his heart the pledge of the Holy Spirit (II Cor., I, 22), does not seek the petty profits of a salary of this world, possessing his right of heir. There are also mercenaries who are hired for the vineyard. He's a good mercenary, Pierre? Jean, Jacques? to whom they say, "Come, I will make you fishers of men" (Matt IV, 19). These have in abundance not the acorns, but the loaves: as well they filled twelve baskets with pieces. O Lord Jesus, if you took away the acorns and gave us the loaves! for you are the steward in the house of the Father; Oh ! if you deign to hire us as mercenaries, even if we come late! for you engage even at the eleventh hour, and you deign to pay the same wages: same wages of life, no glory; for it is not to all that the crown of justice is reserved, but to him who can say: "I have fought the good fight" (II Tim., IV, 7 ssq.). I did not think it my duty to remain silent on this point, because some, I know, say that they reserve until their death the grace of baptism or penance. First of all, how do you know if it will be next night that you will be asked for your soul (Lk, XII, 20)? And then, why think that having done nothing, everything will be given to you? Let us admit that there is only one grace, one salary: another thing is the price of victory, the one to which, not without reason, Paul, who, after the wages of grace, continued the price to win it (Phil III, 14), knowing that if the salary of grace is equal, the palm belongs only to a small number.

(See Matt, XX, 3-16).

And since we have arrived at the vineyard of the Lord, let us not leave empty-handed; for it is good to pick the fruits, to see the mercenaries. What is the meaning of these workers engaged at various times of the same day, except that "a thousand years, in the eyes of the Lord, are like the day yesterday, which is past, and as an hour in the night" (Ps 89, 4)? What is this night, if not the one that came first, for the day to be near (Rom., XIII, 22)? And it's really an hour in the night, since a thousand years are like a day. He knew the significance of this day, the one who said, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for the ages" (Hebrews, XIII, 8). He knew that this day is multiple, the one who wrote: "It is the day of the birth of heaven and earth, when they were created; the day when God made heaven and earth and all the green of the fields "(Gen., II, 4). Having previously described seven days, he then summarizes in a single day all that has been done, showing that the whole duration of the world is in the eyes of the Lord as a unique day: seeing that chaos and darkness the face of the The world has emerged in the clarity of the divine work. If, therefore, the whole duration of the world is one day, it certainly counts its hours by centuries: in other words, even centuries are its hours. But "there are twelve hours in the day" (Jn, XI, 9).

So in the mystical sense, the day is Christ: He has his twelve Apostles, who have shone with the heavenly light, in whom grace has its distinct phases. The father of the family therefore came to hire from the first hour workers: perhaps those who from the beginning of the world until the flood have obtained to be righteous, and of whom it is said: "I spoke to you before the day and I sent you my servants the prophets before daylight "(Jer., xxv, 3 sec.). The third hour begins after the flood: it contains the time of Noah and others who, like good workmen, are sent to the vineyard: so Noah got drunk at lunch, so to speak. The sixth and the following are relieved by the merits of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. At the ninth, the world being already in decline and the light of virtue fading, the Law and the Prophets denounced the alteration of human morals. The holy advent brings forth the eleventh and the remainder of the day: so He himself says in the Gospel: "Walk, while ye have the light" (Jn, xii, 35).

 But it's time to return to the father. Doubtless I do not fear that, by the example of the one who did penance, we seem to have been absent for a long time: for we have never been absent, since we remain in the vineyard; if he had stayed there, he too would not have moved away from his father. However, be careful not to delay reconciliation, which the father did not wait. He reconciles willingly, when he is urged to do so.

 Then let us learn by what supplication we must approach the Father. "Father," said he, "what a mercy, what a tenderness, in the one who, even offended, does not refuse to be given the name of father! "Father," he said, "I have sinned against heaven and on your face. ». Such is the first confession, to the author of nature, to the master of mercy, to the judge of fault. But although he knows everything, God, however, awaits the expression of our confession; for "it is by the mouth that confession is made for the sake of salvation" (Rom., X, 10), since the weight of its misguidance is lightened when one takes charge oneself; and it is to cut short the animosity of the accusation that to prevent the accuser by confessing: for "the just, from the beginning of his speech, is his own accuser" (Prov., XVIII, 17). On the other hand, it would be vain to conceal from Him that you will not deceive anything; and you are in no danger of denouncing what you know to be already known. Admit rather, that Christ may intervene for you, that we have an advocate with the Father (I Jn, II, 1); May the Church pray for you, may the people weep over you. And do not be afraid not to get: the lawyer guarantees forgiveness, the boss promises you the grace, the defender assures you the reconciliation with paternal tenderness. Believe, for He is truth; rest, because He is strong. He is about to intervene for you, so as not to be needlessly dead for you. The Father is also about to forgive, because "what the Son wants, the Father wills" (Gal., II, 21). "I have sinned against heaven and on your face. This is certainly not to mention an element, but to signify that the sin of the soul diminishes the heavenly gifts of the Spirit, or that it would not have been necessary to turn away from that mother's breast, Jerusalem, who is in heaven. "I am no longer worthy to be called your son": for the fallen must not be exalted, so that he may be relieved by his humility. "Treat me like one of your mercenaries": he knows that there is a difference between sons, friends, mercenaries, slaves: we are sons by baptism, friend by virtue, mercenary by work, slave by fear. But the slaves themselves and the mercenaries become friends, as it is written, "You are my friends, if you do what I command you; I no longer call you servants "(Jn, XV, 13ffq).

So he spoke to himself; but it is not enough to speak, if you do not come to the Father. Where to look for it, where to find it? Get up first: I mean you who until now have been sitting and asleep; so the Apostle says, "Stand up, you who sleep, and rise up from the dead" (Ephesians 5: 14). Iniquity is based on a talent of lead (Zach., V, 7); but it is said to Moses, "For you, stand here" (Deut., V, 31): Christ has chosen those who are standing. Stand up then, run to the Church: there is the Father, there is the Son, there is the Holy Spirit. When you meet, He who hears you converse in the secret of your soul; and when you are still far away, He sees you and runs. He sees in your heart; He runs, so that no one will delay you; He kisses too. His encounter is his prescience; his embrace is his clemency, and the demonstrations of his paternal love. He throws himself on your neck to get you up, and, loaded with sins and turned towards the earth, you go back to heaven to seek your author. Christ throws himself on your neck, to free your neck from the yoke of slavery and to suspend your suave yoke at your neck (Matt. Xi. 30). Do you not seem to have thrown yourself on John's neck, when John was resting on Jesus' breast, his head thrown back? So he saw the Word at God, being raised to the heights. He throws himself on your neck, when he says, "Come to me, you who are suffering, and I will comfort you; take my yoke upon you "(Matt., XI, 28ff.). That's the way He hugs you, if you convert. And He has to bring dress, ring, shoes. The robe is the garment of wisdom: the Apostles cover the nakedness of the body; each one wraps around it. And they receive the robe to put on the weakness of their body the strength of spiritual wisdom. Indeed, wisdom is said: she "shall wash her robe in wine" (Gen. xviii. 11). The dress, then, is the spiritual clothing and the garment of the wedding. Is the ring anything but the seal of a sincere faith and the imprint of truth? As for the shoe, it is the preaching of the gospel. So he has received the first wisdom - for there is another, who does not know the mystery - he has received the seal in his words and deeds, and as the safeguard of his good intention and his race, 38 lest he strike his foot against a stone (Psalm 90:12), and, overthrown by the devil, forsake the office of preaching the Lord. The "preparation of the gospel" (Ephesians 6: 15), which sends to the race for heavenly goods those whom he has prepared, is not to walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit (Rom. ., VIII,). The fat calf is still slain: thus, restored by the grace of the sacrament to the communion with the mysteries, we can nourish ourselves with the flesh of the Lord, rich in spiritual virtue. No one can, if he does not fear God, what is the beginning of wisdom (Ps 110, 10, Prov., IX, 10), if he has not kept or recovered the seal of Spirit, if he has not confessed the Lord, take part in the heavenly mysteries. As for the ring, to have is to have and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, because God has put his mark (cf Jn, VI, 28), He whose image Christ is ( II Cor., IV, 4), and He has placed as a pledge the Spirit in our hearts (Ib., I, 22), to let us know that this is the imprint of this ring which is put in the hand, through whom are marked the inmost of our hearts and the ministry of our actions. So we were marked, as we read, "By believing, it is said, you have received the seal of the Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1: 13). It is precisely also that the Son describes to us the feasting father with the flesh of the calf, sacerdotal victim who was offered for sins: He wanted to show that the food of the Father is our salvation, and that the joy of the Father is the redemption of our sins. And here, if you attribute to the Father that the Son be a victim for sins, the Father takes his joy at the return of the sinner; above, the Son rejoices at the newfound sheep: you thus recognize that the Father and the Son have but one joy, the same activity to found the Church. But the father is happy that his son was lost and found himself, died and came back to life. This one is dead, which was: we can not really die if we have not been. Thus the Gentiles are not, the Christian is, as it was said above: "God chose that which is not to destroy what is" (I Cor., 1, 28). One can however see here in one only the image of the human race. Adam was, and in him we were all; Adam is dead, and in Him all are dead. Man, therefore, is reformed in the very man who was dead, and he who was made in the likeness and image of God is restored by the patience and magnanimity of God. What does it mean "God chose what is not to destroy what is"?

This: He chose the people of the Gentiles, who was not, to destroy the people of the Jews. One can also apply to the one who does penance this word, that one does not die if one has not once lived; so Gentiles do not die, but are dead; for whoever does not believe in Christ, is always dead. And while the Gentiles, once they have faith, are quickened by grace, he who has fallen again through penitence.

 The next passage wants to make us favorable to the remission of sins after penance, lest by finding the forgiveness of others wrong, we should not obtain it for ourselves from the Lord. Who are you to challenge to the Lord the right to forgive whoever he wants, when you forgive who you want? He wants to be prayed, He wants to be implored. If all are righteous, where will the grace of God be? Who are you, to blame God? And that is why the brother is here censored, to the point that it is said to come from the farm, that is to say occupied with the works of the earth, ignorant of what is the Spirit of God (I Cor II, 11), and finally complaining that no one has ever been killed for himself: for it is not for envy, but for the forgiveness of the world, that the Lamb has been immolated. The envious claims a kid; the innocent desires that the Lamb be sacrificed for him. It is said that he was older: it is that envy makes one grow old quickly. If he remains outside, it is because the malevolence of his jealous soul excludes him. He can not hear the chorus and the symphony, not of those which excite the passions to the theater, nor the sound of flutes granted, but the harmony of the people who sing and sound their sweet and sweet joy to see the sinner saved . Give me one of those who believe themselves to be righteous, who do not see the beam in their eye and can not bear the straw of others' defects: how indignant he is, when he has confessed his fault and for a long time implored his forgiveness, someone gets grace! how his ears can not bear the spiritual concert of the people! For there is a concert, when in the church the unsurpassed harmony of different ages and virtues, like varied cords, alternates the psalm, says Amen. This is the concert that Paul also knew; so he says: "I will sing in spirit, I will sing with my understanding" (I Cor., XIV, 15). Such is the exposition which we have thought proper to make of the present parable. But we do not find it so bad that he would like to recognize the two peoples in these two brothers, the youngest being the people of the Gentiles, another Israel to whom the elder brother craves the blessing of the paternal blessing. This is what the Jews did, complaining that Christ had his meal with the Gentiles (Lk, V, 50); so they claimed the kid, a sacrifice of bad odor. The Jew claims the kid, the Christian the Lamb; also Barabbas is delivered to them, for us the Lamb is slain. From then on, it is with them the stench of crimes, with us the remission of sins, sweet in hope, sweet in its fruit. To ask the kid is to wait for the antichrist; because Christ is the victim of a good smell. This complaint about the kid seems to say that the Jews have lost the rites of ancient sacrifices, or that the blood of no one has benefited them like Christ's in the Church: for they could not be redeemed by the blood of the prophets. Now he (the elder) is impudent and similar to that Pharisee who did justice in his presumptuous prayer, who thought he had never failed God's command because he was literally observing the Law (Lk. XVIII, 11ff. ); without heart, in accusing his brother of having wasted his paternal fortune with courtesans: he should have beenware that it was said to him: "Courtesans and publicans will pass before you in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. , XXI, 31). He remains at the door: he is not excluded, but he does not enter, disregarding the will of God to call the Gentiles, of son now become a servant; for "the servant does not know what his master does" (Jn, XV, 14). When he learns it, he is jealous, he is tortured by the happiness of the Church, and he remains outside. From the outside, indeed, Israel hears the song and the symphony, and it is irritated by the agreement achieved by the grace of the people, the happy concert of the crowd. But the father, who is good, would have wanted to save him. "You have always been with me," he said, either as a Jew under the law or just by common consent; but moreover, if you stop envying, "all that I have is yours": as Jew you possess the mysteries of the Old Testament, as baptized also those of the New.