Sermon given Friday, November 10, 2023
 

Is It Ever Too Late
To Beg God's Forgiveness?

(Readings: Romans 15:14-21;
Psalm 98:1-4; and Luke 16:1-8)

“What shall I do, I am not strong enough to dig, and am ashamed to beg.” (Luke 16:3)

At some point in our life, haven’t we all said or at least thought to ourselves something very similar to these words?

In our time of distress, our words may have been more like, “What shall I do, I am not strong enough to get out of this on my own and I am ashamed to ask for help.”

Maybe it wasn’t because we had got caught cheating our employer, but that’s not really the point Jesus is trying to make in this gospel message. Jesus is asking us to look deep into our hearts and reflect on those times we were lost, powerless, and scared.

More specifically, those times when we ended up hopelessly separated from God because of our own choices and actions. When, unlike the dishonest Steward who squandered the earthly property of his rich Master, we had squandered that which is beyond value, the love that God is constantly showering down on us as His children, adopted through His love at our baptism.

In this parable we see a seemingly unlikely and counterintuitive resolution to the mess the Steward finds himself in. After getting caught, the Steward continues his dishonest ways by going to his master’s debtors and reducing their debt to his Master. The Steward was desperate and knew his Master well enough to know that his Master was a dishonest man as well and would reward these acts, as savvy, or “street smart.”

That’s why the gospel says, “The Master commended that dishonest Steward for acting prudently,” even though his prudence achieved a dishonest task.

The gospel closes by summing up this interaction between two dishonest men by saying, “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.”

We, on the other hand, as Christians, as children of God, we are the children of light. And in contrast to the dishonest Steward who served a dishonest Master, Jesus is calling us to remember that we serve a Master whose justice, honesty, and love are beyond measure, and whose mercies are endless.

Jess is calling s to remember that no matter how severely or how often we sin, if we humble ourselves, surrender to his love and mercy, turn to him in true sorrow for our sins, and seek repentance through the great Sacrament of Penance, he will totally and completely repair the damage we have done to our relationship with him.

But that’s not all! In addition, through this sacrament, the Lord Jesus gives us grace which strengthens us to avoid future sin!

Of course, our sinful nature can’t be completely overcome by going to Confession one time—we are much too hardheaded and self-absorbed for that. At least that has been my personal experience.

But thanks be to God He never gives up on us and offers us this sacrament of forgiveness and reconciliation whenever we need it.

Know that the more we stay in His grace, the stronger our relationship with Him will become, the more we will want to spend time with Him in prayer, reading the scriptures, uniting our sufferings both large and small to His, helping those in need, and going to Mass as often as possible, where we receive even more strengthening grace each time we receive Jesus in the Eucharist.

There’s no quick fix. It’s a process. It’s God’s plan. It’s the path God offers to us all. It’s just that so often in our life we are so focused on doing things our way, we are blinded to God’s ways.

However, when we are truly striving to make God the most important thing in our life, as we draw closer and closer to the Lord we will actually find ourselves living and acting like He really is the most important part of our life.

A great example of living this life is the saint we celebrate today, St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church who died on this day in the year 461. He was also a deacon and was widely respected for his love for the Lord, his intelligence, and his persuasive nature.

He had a gift for bringing together Christians who were at odds with each other, and for being a peacemaker. He was so persuasive that he even convinced Attila the Hun not to plunder Rome!

Even to this day, St. Leo the Great is remembered and praised not only for bringing peace, but for preserving the fullness of Christian truth and doctrine against the heresies of his time.

As a Doctor of the Church, he wrote extensively and nearly 100 of his sermons and 150 of his letters have been preserved.

However, maybe the most important thing we need to remember about St. Leo the Great is his reminder to those in the 5^th century—and to us at this Mass today—that “The reception of Christ’s body and blood transforms us into that which we consume.”

Amen

St. Leo the Great, Pray for Us!