Immaculate Heart Of Mary Parish issued the following announcement on Sep. 11.

24 Sunday of Ordinary Time

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that life is complicated.  As we go through life, we run into problems and dilemmas; questions come to the surface; doubts and difficulties confuse us.  Unfortunately, we don't always go to the right place for answers.  We have a tendency - left over from original sin - to try and fix everything ourselves, to measure out these difficulties according to limited, human yardsticks.  Sometimes we use our own, and sometimes we use one from a popular writer, speaker, or website.

Jesus came to earth to free us from sin, but he knew that human yardsticks are not good enough for our dilemmas.  We need to learn to measure all things according to Christ’s standards.  We need to bring our questions to him, just as St. Peter did in today's Gospel passage.

This passage immediately follows Jesus’ instructions to his Twelve about being good shepherds.  We can imagine the disciples discussing those instructions, maybe even arguing about how many times a good shepherd should go after the same sheep, if it keeps wandering away.  Rabbinic teaching in those days placed the limit of forgiveness at three times; a fourth offense was not to be forgiven.  Maybe St. Peter was proposing to increase the limit to seven times, in light of Christ’s teachings, and some of the others were sticking the traditional view.  To resolve the argument, he goes to the Lord.  In him we find the answers we need for every dilemma.  

Like St. Peter, we should bring our questions to the Lord in prayer; we should cast the light of the Church’s teachings on our moral and intellectual quandaries; and then, also like Peter, we should accept Christ’s solution.

But to follow Jesus, to really make Christ our yardstick, requires us to make a fundamental decision.  At some point, every one of us has to make this decision. St. Paul explains what this decision is in today's Second Reading.  He tells the Romans: "None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself." In other words, in order to fill our lives with the light and strength of Jesus, we have to decide to live and die for Jesus, to belong to Jesus.  We have to give our lives to him.  

We can't just be labeled “Catholic” on the outside; we have to invite Jesus to come into our hearts and allow him to be our teacher, our friend, our Savior, and our King. One reason we sometimes delay making this surrender of our lives to Christ is because of our sins. We feel unworthy, unlovable.  But today's Gospel reminds us that God's mercy is unlimited, if only we are willing to confess our sins and accept his forgiveness.  Another reason we delay making this commitment to Christ is because we are afraid of giving up our own plans and hopes.  But God's plans and hopes are infinitely more wonderful than anything we could come up with on our own, as today's Psalm reminds us: "As the heavens tower over the earth, so God's love towers over the faithful."  As we continue with this Mass, we can once again open our confused, complicated, and yearning hearts to Jesus, and invite him to be our way, our truth, and our life.

Fr. Phil

Original source can be found here.