17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (St. Joseph Church)

A family needed to do some shopping. So the father took his three kids and they went to one of those big-box home improvement stores. They had a lot to buy, so when they got inside the Father split off to get his items. He put the eldest child, a high schooler, in charge and asked the kids to get some things they needed for the house. But the kids soon got distracted, and found themselves in the home furnishings department.

They played with the faucets, looked at themselves in the mirror, but then came across dozens of doors displayed for sale, all in a row. The kids then began to play. They knocked on the doors, opened them, and went through. Soon it became a game. One of the kids would knock on doors at random. Another kid would be on the other side, knocking on other doors, one after another. If they heard each other knocking on the same door, they would rush to be the first to find their surprised sibling on the other side. They knocked, they opened, they loved playing with these doors.

The game was so fun it caused quite a stir. Some shoppers went off in a huff while others watched in amusement. And then a voice was heard over the store PA system. It was the store manager who said, "Would those children playing with the doors please stop immediately; you are breaking store rules." But the kids didnt really hear the announcement, the game was that much fun.

Soon the department manager was on the scene. He would have none of this game. So he snuck up to catch these kids in the act. He creeped up behind one of the kids and just as they were about to knock on the door and asked, "Just do you think you're doing!?" Seeing him one of the kids ran away to another aisle, afraid of being punished.

The two other siblings didn't notice, this game so enthralled them.

By now the father of these three children had come upon the scene. He saw the game two of them were still playing and stepped in to act. But he did something very different. He stepped in and began to knock on the doors himself. His child, the eldest, was on the other side of the closed doors. The father began to knock and soon his knocking met up with the knocks of his eldest son, the high schooler. As the youth opened the door, still in game-mode, he was shocked to see his father on the other side! He cringed in fear, thinking he was in much trouble. But then he noticed the expression on his father's face. His father was not angry. Instead, his father stepped through the door, came up and looked upon him with a slight smile, and placed his arm on his shoulder. The father said, "This isn't really the place for this kind of game, is it? Let's get what we need and get back home, okay?"  

It was a powerful moment for tis son. His father was merciful, loving. He didn't bark down orders at him like the store manager. He didn't sneak up to catch and punish him like the department manager. His father surprised him at the door, knocked so that he might open up, forgave him, and then led him to a better place.

This story is something of a parable to illustrate the profound theme of our readings today. Jesus proclaims God as Father, and instructs us how we are to pray to him. He uses imagery of a door and knocking on that door. He asks us to knock -- to seek God in prayer as if we were knocking on a door we wanted opened -- and to keep on knocking until we find what and Who we are looking for.

And in this Jubilee Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis, we remember that the image of God the Father matters. The church in this year presents the image of God the Father as our Merciful Father, coming to us, reaching out to us, knocking on our door -- the door of our soul -- beckinong that we might open our hearts and receive mercy, the mercy of God the merciful Father. This is the image of God the Father the Gospel presents to us. This is the Father Jesus prays to and asks that we pray to in the beautiful prayer the Our Father we recite at every Mass, perhaps even every day.

But sometimes we think of God using other images, don't we? We might think of God as Father, but a type of father who is like the store manager, distant, uninvolved, and making rules. Or we might think of God as a Father who tries to catch us at our worst moment, to punish us for our sins. We need to look at these images of God and realize they are our projections. God is not like that. God is our Merciful Father. God in his essence is LOVE, unconditional love, always reaching out to us, always seeking relationship and reunion with us. He created us in love and sustains us in love at every moment! 

Let's realize, though that even the idea of God as Father needs some brief clarification. The Catechism of the Catholic Church even says that God is Father, but he is not like earthly fathers. God who is without gender and is the source of all that is is so far beyond earthly fathers. Earthly fathers have limitations, have baggage, have sins. Some carry immense pain and regret because of their experiences with their earthly fathers. But God who is the source of our life and whose love sustains us in being at every moment, He is pure goodness, pure truth, pure beauy. Our God, Our Father, is LOVE, pure love.  Our earthly fathers, even at their best, cannot compare with God the Merciful Father. Our earthly fathers, even at their worst, need not taint our perception of God the Father.

So here we are, reminded of God the Merciful Father, and standing at the door, so to speak. The same God who wanted to have mercy on the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah wants to bestow his mercy on us. He sent his Son Jesus Christ, the visible face of his invisible love and mercy, to save us from our sins by his death and resurrection. He instituted a Church and the Sacraments like baptism to bestow this love and mercy upon us. That's why Paul in our second reading to Colossians sees baptism as so important, a true game changer. Baptism unlocks the door that allows us to encounter our loving God's unconditional love and mercy. God the Father has been knocking on our door, and in faith, we respond, we knock back, we open up to Him.

Many of us, if not all, have been baptized. The door was unlocked, and there is no need for anything to come in between us and our Merciful Father, not sin or separation, or anything. But we do fall, we do sin, we freely turn from our Father, shut the door, and miss out on his loving Mercy. Sin happens. I sin, not that I want to, but I do. And when we sin it can be in an everyday fashion, the venial sins our faith teaches us about. How can we encounter our merciful Father, who stands at the door and knocks, even in these common sons? We must pray, keep praying. We must knock, and keep knocking, asking for God's mercy. We see this in the penitential rite at every Mass, praying that God have mercy on us. We can pray at the end of the day for God's forgivness, opening the door of our hearts to our merciful Father.

But the truth is, we can sin in ways that cut us off from our merciful God. Not that He doesn't love us, for His love is unconditional and without fail. But sometimes if we commit a grave sin, if we know full-well that it is wrong, and we do it anyways in full consent of our will, we commit a mortal sin. To do that is to slam the door on our merciful Father, and to lock him out.  But here's the good news! There is another door we can knock on, another door that our Merciful Father is behind, waiting for us to come to him that we might receive mercy and forgiveness.
 
That door is the door of our Reconciliation Room. We are always welcome to come here and knock to come inside and meet our Merciful Father who's been knocking, waiting for us to hear Him, to knock back in response, to open up to Him. In this miraculous room, we trade our sins and guilt for the refreshing shower of God's mercy. Right here we can be forgiven by Jesus in the person of hte priest. Behind this door we can meet the Merciful Father, who knocks, waiting for us to knock back, to open, and to receive His marvelous mercy.