Don’t Become victims of Spiritual Marginalization

November 3, Thursday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Readings: Philippians 3:3-8a; Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

God and his angels are happy when a sinner turns around and gets back on the right path. In the liturgy of the word today, Jesus shows what is called "the gospel within the gospel." How is God’s mercy shown to human beings, especially to a person who is a sinner but now repents and wants to return to God?

The scriptures today show how God’s mercy surpasses all barriers. God has a special place for the poor and sinners. The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders don't like it when a sinner comes back to the right path. Instead, they want to punish the person. They are very religious because they follow the law of Moses, but they don't care about God's love.

The law is most important to the Pharisees and Scribes, but they are hypocrites because they treat the poor badly. They created two facets of marginalization, namely: religious marginalization and second, social marginalization. The first kind of exclusion makes us feel like we should be proud and stick up for the law.

In the second type of marginalization, people cut themselves off from other people socially and label them as bad and not worth getting close to. By doing this, they ignore God's mercy and become spiritually marginalized.

Like Pharisees and Scribes, we too, at times, give a lot of stress to the law, rules and regulations, purifications, and external rituals, but forget to show mercy to our brothers and sisters.

Today, Jesus encourages us to prioritize mercy over sacrifice.