Saturday of Week 33 – 1 Macc 6:1-13; Luke 20:27-40
Useful in misfortune
Only in misfortune do we notice it
It took defeat to rouse Antiochus from his easy certainties: “Into what great distress I have fallen… I remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem” (cf. 2 Maccabees 9). How many today live with a similar complacency: “I’ve harmed no one, I’ve robbed no one – – I’m respectable. It’s others who are the problem, especially those believers, always confessing something!”
But the Gospel tells a different truth. There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety‑nine who think they have no need of repentance (cf. Luke 15:7). Confession is not a badge of disgrace; it is the doorway of hope. The humble tax collector goes home justified, not the self‑satisfied Pharisee (cf. Luke 18:9–14).
Let us not wait for collapse to wake us. Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts (Psalm 95:7–8). Step into the light, ask for mercy, and begin again. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Christ meets us with a welcome stronger than our sin. Grace does not humiliate; it heals and restores. And when we rise forgiven, heaven rejoices – and the world grows a little brighter because a heart has come home.