Thursday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Now tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to him, so that they might listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This one accepts sinners and eats with them.” And he told this parable to them, saying: “What man among you, who has one hundred sheep, and if he will have lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the one whom he had lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: ‘Congratulate me! For I have found my sheep, which had been lost.’ I say to you, that there will be so much more joy in heaven over one sinner repenting, than over the ninety-nine just, who do not need to repent. Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she will have lost one drachma, would not light a candle, and sweep the house, and diligently search until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying: ‘Rejoice with me! For I have found the drachma, which I had lost.’ So I say to you, there will be joy before the Angels of God over even one sinner who is repentant.”