EPISTLE

1 Peter 5: 6 - 11

6 Be you humbled, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation:

7 Casting all your solicitude upon him, for he hath care of you.

8 Be sober, and watch: because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 Whom resist ye, strong in faith; knowing that the same affliction befalleth your brethren who are in the world.

10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory, in Christ Jesus, when you have suffered a little, will himself perfect, and confirm, and establish you.

11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

GOSPEL

Luke 15: 1 - 10

1 Now the publicans and sinners drew near unto him, to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and the Scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying:

4 What man of you that hath a hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which is lost until he find it?

Ver. 4. What man, &c. Christ left the ninety-nine in the desert, when he descended from the angelic choirs, in order to seek last man on the earth, that he might fill up the number of the sheepfold of heaven, from which his sins had excluded him. (St. Ambrose) --- Neither did his affection for the last sheep make him behave cruelly to the rest; for he left them in safety, under the protection of his omnipotent hand. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas)

5 And when he hath found it, doth he not lay it upon his shoulders rejoicing:

6 And coming home call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost?

7 I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.

Ver. 7. Joy in heaven, &c. What incitement ought it not to be to us to practise virtue, when we reflect that our conversion causes joy to the troops of blessed spirits, whose protection we should always seek, and whose presence we should always revere. (St. Ambrose) --- There is greater joy for the conversion of a sinner, than for the perseverance of the just; but it frequently happens, that these being free from the chain of sin, remain indeed in the path of justice, but press not on eagerly to their heavenly country; whilst such as have been sinners, are stung with grief at the remembrance of their former transgressions, and calling to mind how they have forsaken their God, endeavour by present fervour to compensate for their past misconduct. But it must be remembered that there are many just, whose lives cause such joy to the heavenly court, that all the penitential exercises of sinners cannot be preferred before them. (St. Gregory, hom. xxxiv.)

8 Or what woman, having ten groats, if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle and sweep the house, and seek diligently, till she find it?

Ver. 8. In the preceding parable, the race of mankind is compared to a lost sheep, to teach us that we are the creatures of the most high God, who made us, and not we ourselves, of whose pasture we are the sheep. (Psalm xcix.) And in this parable mankind are compared to the drachma, which was lost, to shew us that we have been made to the royal likeness and image even of the omnipotent God; for the drachma is a piece of money, bearing the image of the king. (St. Chrysostom in St. Thomas Aquinas)

9 And when she hath found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the groat which I had lost.

10 So I say to you, there shall be joy before the Angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.

Ver. 10. Before the angels. By this it is plain that the spirits in heaven have a concern for us below, and a joy at our repentance, and consequently a knowledge of it. (Challoner)

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2012.htm#article5

Article 5. Whether intention is within the competency of irrational animals?

Objection 1. It would seem that irrational animals intend the end. For in things void of reason nature stands further apart from the rational nature, than does the sensitive nature in irrational animals. But nature intends the end even in things void of reason, as is proved in Phys. ii, 8. Much more, therefore, do irrational animals intend the end.

Objection 2. Further, just as intention is of the end, so is enjoyment. But enjoyment is in irrational animals, as stated above (Question 11, Article 2). Therefore intention is too.

Objection 3. Further, to intend an end belongs to one who acts for an end; since to intend is nothing else than to tend to something. But irrational animals act for an end; for an animal is moved either to seek food, or to do something of the kind. Therefore irrational animals intend an end.

On the contrary, Intention of an end implies ordaining something to an end: which belongs to reason. Since therefore irrational animals are void of reason, it seems that they do not intend an end.

I answer that, As stated above (Article 1), to intend is to tend to something; and this belongs to the mover and to the moved. According, therefore, as that which is moved to an end by another is said to intend the end, thus nature is said to intend an end, as being moved to its end by God, as the arrow is moved by the archer. And in this way, irrational animals intend an end, inasmuch as they are moved to something by natural instinct. The other way of intending an end belongs to the mover; according as he ordains the movement of something, either his own or another's, to an end. This belongs to reason alone. Wherefore irrational animals do not intend an end in this way, which is to intend properly and principally, as stated above (Article 1).

Reply to Objection 1. This argument takes intention in the sense of being moved to an end.

Reply to Objection 2. Enjoyment does not imply the ordaining of one thing to another, as intention does, but absolute repose in the end.

Reply to Objection 3. Irrational animals are moved to an end, not as though they thought that they can gain the end by this movement; this belongs to one that intends; but through desiring the end by natural instinct, they are moved to an end, moved, as it were, by another, like other things that are moved naturally.