How can I, on this Saturday after Ash Wednesday and Memorial of St. John of God—when the Gospel challenges me about being “with tax collectors and #sinners”—embrace the brokenness of my relationships with God, neighbor, and the earth (as described in Laudato si’), trust, as the Synod on Synodality reminds me, that Jesus never sends away even those among the self-righteous “sinners,” see the precipitation at The Glenn as a reminder of what God can do with us, and still have faith that my prayers for Daniel’s miracle through the intercession of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen will be heard❓
Gospel
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners❓“
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
Lent Day 4 Lectio Divina on the word “sinners“
I know that I am among the self-righteous sinners, for my relationships with God, my neighbor, and the earth have been fractured in ways both seen and unseen. The creation accounts in Genesis reveal that sin has long disrupted the harmony we were meant to live in, and I recognize my place in that brokenness. Yet, even as I stumble, I find hope in the call to reconciliation, knowing that God’s mercy is greater than my failures.
In Sinners, Barns Courtney captures the raw struggle of human imperfection, which resonates with my own awareness that I am among the sinners Jesus came to redeem. Just as the song embraces the reality of brokenness, I find hope in knowing that Christ does not turn away from sinners but instead calls us to the table of mercy and transformation.
Jesus never turned away self-righteous sinners; instead, He sat with them, listened to them, and invited them into transformation. If He could welcome the Pharisees, how can I not believe that He welcomes me too❓ I must not allow self-righteousness to hold me back from seeking His grace. Rather, I must embrace the path of renewal, trusting that He sees beyond my sins to the person I am called to become.
stopping to listen and to speak to them, whether men or women, Jews or pagans, doctors of the
law or publicans, righteous men and women or sinners, beggars, the blind, lepers or the sick.
The precipitation at The Glenn today reminds me that just as the earth is refreshed, so too can sinners be made clean through God’s mercy. No matter how deep the stains of sin may seem, they are never beyond redemption. I take comfort in the knowledge that the same God who designed the beauty of winter’s purity also offers me a chance to be renewed.
Enthusiastic Sinners explores the complexities of human desire and imperfection, reminding me that sinners, no matter how flawed, are never beyond the reach of God’s grace. Just as Jesus dined with tax collectors and sinners, I am called to recognize my own need for mercy and transformation.
Though I’m like the Pharisees and struggle with counting myself among the sinners, I still hold onto the hope that my prayers for Daniel’s miracle will be heard. God’s love does not depend on my worthiness but on His boundless compassion. With that faith, I continue to pray through the intercession of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, knowing that even the prayers of sinners like me can reach the heart of God.
So I ask myself, just as the Gospel does: Why do I hesitate to trust in God’s mercy when Jesus Himself dined with the self-righteous as well as…
The creation accounts in the book of Genesis contain, in their own symbolic and narrative language, profound teachings about human existence and its historical reality. They suggest that human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbour and with the earth itself. According to the Bible, these three vital relationships have been broken, both outwardly and within us. This rupture is sin.
FROM PARAGRAPH 66 OF THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME