In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 15:1-32, we hear three parables from Jesus.  The Parable of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin and Lost Son.  In these stories, Jesus gives three earthly examples of the great joy we experience in finding that which is lost in order to describe our Heavenly Father’s joy over “one sinner who repents”. (LK 15:7)  The first two may be difficult to relate to personally unless we are shepherds or afflicted with poverty such that a single coin would have such great value.  They seem more appropriate for the time in which Jesus was speaking but they still serve to support the more familiar third parable Jesus shares.

   In the Parable of the Lost Son the focus is often placed on the Love, Mercy and Forgiveness that the Father showed for the son who “was lost and has been found”.  This is a comforting reminder that our God is such a loving and forgiving God that despite how bad our transgressions may be, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we can receive His Grace and forgiveness.  We must take great care however to avoid interpreting this as a free pass to live a life of sin where we consciously know that our behavior is sinful yet choose to do it anyway, taking the Sacrament itself for granted thus diminishing the sanctity it should hold.  When we do give a good confession, through the Act of Contrition, we are making a covenant with God that we will try to avoid repeating the sin.  If we are not making the effort to do so, are we truly making a good confession?  If not, we are not being healed in the way that the Sacrament is intended.

   Just as the Father in the parable said, his son was “dead and has come to life again” (LK 15:32), let us be sure that through our own good and honest confession with our Heavenly Father, we too will truly “come to life again”.