5 November 2026 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Luke 15:7
The Pharisees grumble: “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus answers with two parables of searching. A shepherd leaves ninety-nine to find one sheep; a woman lights a lamp and sweeps the whole house for one coin. In both, the one who searches is God, and the story ends in a party. Heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents.
Paul shows what it looks like to be found. He had every reason for pride: circumcised on the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, blameless under the law. But he says: “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” When Christ finds us, what we thought was treasure becomes rubbish compared to him.
Theme: “Lost and found.”
God searches for the lost; heaven rejoices when they are found; and the found count everything as loss for Christ.
“I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” Ezekiel 34:16
“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” Luke 15:4
Apply: Pray by name for one person who has strayed.
“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:23
“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Luke 15:7
Apply: Plan a Confession this month.
“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25–26
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44
Apply: Let go of one thing you are proud of and offer it to Christ.
We are found by a searching God.
Let us rejoice with heaven and search with him.
Take-home resolution: Reach out this week to someone who has drifted away.
Dear friends, the Pharisees grumbled that Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. Jesus answered with two stories of searching: a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to find one, and a woman who lights a lamp and sweeps the whole house for one lost coin (Luke 15:4–8).
Notice who does the searching. It is not the sheep that finds the shepherd; it is the shepherd who finds the sheep. Before we ever looked for God, God was looking for us. And both stories end with a party: there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7).
Paul shows us what it is like to be found. He had every reason for pride in his background and his zeal, yet he says that all of it is loss compared with knowing Christ Jesus his Lord (Philippians 3:7–8). When Christ finds us, our old treasures lose their shine.
Who is the one lost sheep in your family or your street? Someone who has stopped coming to church, someone who feels forgotten? This week, be the shepherd's hands: make the call, pay the visit, light the lamp. Heaven is waiting to rejoice. Amen.
Children, Jesus is the good shepherd who looks for every lost sheep. If someone in your class is alone, go and find them. Heaven will be happy!
Good Shepherd, you search for me until you find me. Let me be found, let me rejoice in your mercy, and let me count everything as loss compared with knowing you. Amen.
Paul counts all his gains as loss for the surpassing value of knowing Christ. In the Gospel the shepherd and the woman count their losses differently: one lost sheep and one lost coin are worth a search and a party. Both readings are about what is truly precious.
Setting.
In chapter 3 Paul warns the Philippians against Christian teachers who insisted that Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses in order to belong fully to God’s people. Paul answers by telling his own story. He is not attacking Judaism or the Jewish people, whose gifts he honours (Romans 9:4–5); he is saying that nothing can be added to Christ.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;” (3:5)
Paul is proud of his people. Benjamin gave Israel its first king, Saul, whose name Paul bore.
“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.” (3:7)
“More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (3:8)
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this passage when it speaks of catechesis: whoever is called to teach Christ must first seek “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus” (CCC 428). The heart of the Christian life is not a list of achievements but a person known and loved.
Setting.
Luke 15 is often called the heart of Luke’s Gospel. Tax collectors and sinners come to listen to Jesus; Pharisees and scribes grumble that he eats with them. Jesus answers with three parables of the lost: the sheep, the coin and the son (today’s reading gives the first two).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”” (15:2)
Meant as an accusation, it is a perfect summary of the Gospel.
“When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.” (15:5)
There is no scolding of the sheep. The shepherd carries it home himself.
“Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (15:10)
“In the presence of the angels” is a reverent way of speaking of God himself. God rejoices.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners, and points to these parables (CCC 1846). St Gregory the Great saw in the woman who lights a lamp an image of the Wisdom of God, who lit the lamp of Christ’s humanity to seek the lost (in substance). Pope Francis, in Misericordiae Vultus 9, calls these the parables of mercy.