Let's Rejoice In The One

Beads of Joy 09-12-10

Let's Rejoice In The One
©2010 James Dacey, Jr. SFO

Hello Everyone,

What a spectacular day we have before us. Jesus is always the center of our Sundays, so this should be a joyful, exciting, fun day. And look at today's gospel, and it is so wonderful. Today we are looking at Luke 15:1-32 (The Parable of the Lost Sheep, Coin and Son). Today's reading is the entire chapter. All these lost things actually all tell one story in the end. In each of these parables there is a certain stream of events that take place every time: Your concern for the loss of a treasure or possession occurs, then you realize you may not find it, then you do find it, and then you rejoice. And in every instance they have a party to celebrate the finding and embracing of the treasure that was once lost. We can see that this parable teaches us a couple things all at once: The realization of knowing when someone is lost; the effort involved with finding that one person and embracing them back into the fold; that exciting feeling of wanting to celebrate when they have returned; and really the whole fact that all this effort is for one soul. God wants us all to have this type of a concern for every single individual soul. If every one of us did just that, with that much vigor and excitement, we certainly can help bring the world to Jesus. We all know someone, just one person that really needs to know Jesus. Maybe all of us can take that one person in our prayers to Jesus, and ask our Lord to help guide us in the return of that precious soul. What a truly admirable, humble way to live our lives.

Now looking at these items, what was actually lost, what do we see? The sheep: had to have known it was lost, there was no shepherd guarding it, it had to have felt the loneliness of not being in the presence of the shepherd. / The Coin: Obviously no emotion or feeling with an inanimate object, but couldn't this be seen as a person lost in their own world, having no idea about what they are missing by not being with Jesus? I see it that way. / The Son: Now this young man did this deliberately, he took what was his and left, walking away from his father, this one really hits home, helping see how the other two lost items all fit into this parable. We can see all of these losses resulted in a desperate desire to attain back that lost item. Isn't really mind-boggling how really wonderful the parables help all of us in so many ways in our life. I am so filled with so much Joy to have the opportunity to read, meditate, and learn from these wonderful parables Jesus has taught us. The three people in this parable have taught us, in their own way, how we might help bring others to Jesus. The shepherd looking for the lost sheep took on much pain and suffering, and did not stop looking for the sheep till it was found. The woman looking for the coin was diligent in her efforts till she found the lost coin. And the father who must have been praying and worrying and missing his son so much, was so rewarded by his return and repentance, that he kissed and hugged and celebrate with everyone.

Now the Joy that is inside of my heart is overflowing, please allow your own lives to be so exciting and do all you can to make it fun. Simply offer up every single hour, of every day, of every single week, of every single month, of every single year, to Jesus. It is so simple: 24/7/365 Always. When you do that, and you feed it everyday with prayer, meditation, scripture and the fellowship of like minded believers, you my brothers and sisters will be like me, uncontainable in excitement over Jesus. Just do it. LOL. I am all wound up with scripture today, I feel like I can run faster than any racing car, fly higher than any plane or shuttle, go deeper than any submarine, and that would be me on foot doing that. LOL. The feeling is unexplainable at times. Let us approach God today with an open heart, and spirit fully ready to embrace that which we desire the most: Jesus. At the end of our lives, all that will matter, all that will mean anything, all that we will be judged upon, is how we lived our lives. Was it for Jesus? or Was it for our own selfish desires? Did we always place Him first without compromise? or Did we allow our own selfish desires to always come before Him? God loves all of us, He desires to loose no one, He definitely doesn't want anyone to go to hell. We are here to be God's hands, feet, eyes. I believe we can serve Him best by bringing home to Him as many as we can. Let's do this as a community of believers.

May we all spend our lives looking for the lost and help them return to Jesus. May our lives be spent serving a God with such humility that He always comes first in every decision we make. We all know many who are lost in our lives, we all know many who say they are saved and live their life for Jesus, but they don't; somehow they see and accept the sin of lust or greed, or pride, or anger to be okay because God will forgive them. We are not here to judge them, but we are also not fools, let us pray for these people and do all we can to help bring them home to the Father. God in His mercy forgives, and embraces and celebrates their return. We must faithfully help our Lord by spending our life waking side by side with others and do all we can to bring them personally to our Lord. Do you now see how exciting parables are? No matter how far over the edge of the cliff anyone is, we can find it in our hearts to pray for their safe return to our Lord's arms. This life isn't all about us, it's all about what we do in God's name, to help return all that has been lost. Pray and don't stop praying every single day, "Jesus, I trust in You."


Your brother in Christ Jesus & His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr SFO