20260917 Thursday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(1 Cor 15:1–11; Lk 7:36–50): That God’s Grace May Not Be in Vain My dear brothers and sisters, I pray that you may be filled with the warm grace of God, who enfolds us in His faithful mercy and love despite our weaknesses. In truth, none of us can boast of being perfect or without fault. Looking back, our lives have been a journey full of shortcomings and mistakes. Yet, unlike the eyes and judgments of the world, our Lord surely gazes upon the sincerity of our hearts and our unblemished passion, bringing them back to life. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says: “She has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair… So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love.” (Lk 7:44, 47). Through these words, He allows us to feel how His merciful love comforts our souls. No one in this world ever truly wished to be a sinner. Even if someone’s present reality is miserable, the Lord deeply understands and grieves with the sorrow of one who was led astray by circumstances against their will—frustrated by an inescapable pit of wounds and insurmountable walls. Ultimately, He reaches out to lift up the one buried in the mire of despair, ensuring that even the tiny spark of inner longing to cling to the final strand of hope is never extinguished. The woman in today’s Gospel also shows the courage to stand before the Lord, bearing tears of regret over her life and a heart bruised by bitter anguish. Through that gesture alone, the possibility of transformation has already begun. Though the sunlight always shines in its place, stepping out from the shadows into that light depends on an action born of earnest, prayerful resolve. The Lord never looks lightly upon such heartfelt longing and courageous action. Even in Saint Paul—who once stood at the center of persecution with deep anger and misguided zeal—the Lord did not focus merely on his evil deeds and their consequences. Instead, He did not miss the inner emptiness of a soul wandering without purpose. Thus, He shows us that the lower one falls, the greater the potential for a powerful rebound. This is the very principle of love: that love deepens in proportion to the healing of sin. In the First Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul confesses: “For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle… But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain.” (1 Cor 15:9–10). As our gratitude for His immeasurable grace and love grows, so does our profound sense of duty toward loving life and fulfilling our inner integrity. This is not felt as a burdensome yoke, but as a deep appreciation for the preciousness of life itself. My dear brothers and sisters, as children embraced in the warm mantle of God—who looks upon us with unchanging compassion and mercy—let us humbly entrust this blessed day to Him. May we live to add beauty to the meaning of life and spread the fragrance of the Gospel, so that His grace toward us may not be in vain. Amen.