There are three great and well-known parables in this Sunday’s gospel: the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son—or they could be called the parables of the “shepherd, the householder, and the Father and Son. What do they have in common—save for finding something that is lost and then celebrating the “find” with a party?

They tell us of the nature of God by illustrating to us the “spending pattern” of God’s great Love…for us.

In all three parables we hear that those things which God desires—the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son, God our Father will do everything possible to find and bring back that which belongs to Him—and that possession which God seeks and desires is you!

Amazingly we belong to a God that Loves us. Amazingly we belong to a God that will do everything to bring us back to Him when we are lost and wandering away from Him even as we actively seek someone or something with which to replace Him: money, power, prestige, self-importance—anything— our indiscretions, our sins, our blatant disregard for the Creator of the world. In the Gospel of John, chapter 6, verse 39, we hear “And this is the will of the one who sent me, (says the Lord) that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day.” The Lord desires and seeks us and will do all that He can in order to draw us back into His realm of Love, a love self-emptying, self-giving love, a love that is exemplified in the Innocent One being Crucified for us.

Once we feel, understand, and accept His Love, then there is only one, singular question to answer with our lives: will we join the party? In other words, when we recognize that we are the Lost One—the “item” for which God is searching—will we come to the banquet or will we, filled with anger or self-pity or vengeance or misunderstanding—not be ready to come to the celebration that the Father has planned for us. This gospel message can make an older person recall the lyrics of a 1963 song by Lesley Gore, “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” which spoke to a person being humiliated and miserable at what is meant to be a happy time. The Kingdom of Heaven awaits us, the mansions are built, the invitation has been sent, and a life of joy and peace is prepared for us. Will we open the invitation? Will we allow forgiveness to heal us? Will we be strengthened by the Truth? Will we join the party by a life lived in faith today, tomorrow— “and to infinity and beyond”?

Here at St. Catherine of Siena the local focus of our Forward with Faith Campaign is to rebuild our church—not a new building or edifice—but rather the Mystical Body of Christ. We shall build up our church by welcoming non- and un-believing people to God. We will strengthen the spiritual life of our own established parishioners and new families showing them ways to exercise the faith through their daily lives. Building up the Mystical Body of Christ will grow our parish and our faith life-rebuilding our church.