Preparatory Prayer:
"Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, 0 Lord, and shalt teach him out of Thy Law." Psalm 93.
Setting:
Christ, walking by the seashore, followed as usual by a great number of people, encounters the tax gatherer, Levi, "sitting at the receipt of custom." Our Lord looks at him fixedly and just says the two words: "Follow Me." Levi at once obeyed; it seemed the most natural thing in the world to do. Perhaps he had been listening to the discourse of Jesus as He walked along with the crowds; perhaps the sinner had recognized His inner power; whatever be the explanation, he immediately rose up and began to walk with Jesus. He made a great feast in his house, and sinners came and publicans came, and Jesus came and sat in their midst. He had come for the sake of such as these: "I am come to call, not the just, but sinners to repentance." So, if I consider myself, and with much reason, to be a sinner, I too can find my place in this gathering. Jesus has come to seek and to save what was lost.
Fruit:
Boundless confidence in the inexhaustible mercy of the Sacred Heart.
1. There is no happiness in sin. An old woman of eightytwo said to a priest: "Father, I was a bad sinner, long years ago. I have repented, but I sit up in this bed, at one and two o'clock in the mornings, fearful of meeting God. It is not so much for my own sins I fear as for the sins of others. I tempted boys and led them into evil ways. How am I to account for their sins, which they would never have done only for me? The thought is anguish;. wherever you go, please repeat what was told you by an old woman, that there is no happiness in sin."
Not only no happiness, but sin is a crushing load of misery. Sooner or later the conviction comes that sin is not worth the price; sooner or later there steals into the sinner's heart a sense of shame, a realization that the sin, be it ever so hidden, is worthy only of contempt, is degrading to one's manhood. Nonetheless, there is also the persistent inclination to do it again, to see whether, after all, it may not have the power to give the satisfaction one seeks from it.
Because He knew so well the conflict that rages in the sinner's heart, because He understood the remorse and despair so often engendered by sin, Jesus let fall from His divine lips some of the most exquisite words ever spoken for the encouragement of the sinner. Surrounded by the unwanted and the despised, this sinless Friend of sinners bids them welcome and taxes the powers of His divine eloquence in the effort to assure them that mercy and forgiveness are theirs if they will but truly repent.
A shepherd lived, He told them - and there was music in His voice - up in the hills, loving his flocks, spending his whole day tending to them, leading them into places of pasture, knowing them each by name and known to each one of them, collecting them in the sheepfold every night and counting them carefully before he locked them in and went to seek his rest. One night he missed one; a little creature must have strayed and at once the shepherd was seized upon by a great anxiety. Love lent speed to his pace as he traveled all over the mountain, forgetful of the lateness of the hour, forgetful of his own need of sleep and food, remembering only that the sheep he loved had gone astray.
His search was rewarded. He found the lost sheep, disentangled it from the brambles, and in a transport of joy brought it home in his arms and placed it once more securely in the sheepfold, Of course they saw the point, these poor sinners, even before He developed it. "So I say to you there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance."
Then there is the story of the young man who, tired of the even, monotonous regime of the farm, made up his mind to go off to the gay city and see life. Pleasant people flocked around him, for the boy had plenty of money. What a fool he had been, he thought, to squander so many precious years in the dull valley when he could so easily have been up here where fun abounded! Thank heaven he was still young enough to enjoy it before it had all eluded his grasp!
But there came a time when his pockets were empty and his fine friends turned from him and walked the other way. It was terrible disillusionment, but it was the lad's salvation. It was only when he had descended to the depths, only when he lived with swine and tried to stave off the pangs of hunger by stuffing their husks into his mouth, that the boy began to see things straight. "I will arise and go back to my father." And delightedly the father took him back, this poor son in rags, covered with mud, half starved, filled with shame and sorrow; the father opened out both arms to take him into his heart and keep him there.
Jesus, I am a sinner. I trust in You, not merely in spite of my sins, but because of my sins. If I had not sinned, You could not have been my Savior. Good Shepherd, please seek me when I wander; merciful Father, let me tell You of my sincere sorrow, now....