In his poem "The Hound of Heaven" Francis Thompson describes how he fled from God "down the nights and down the days" and "down the arches of the years." God, however, followed him "with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace." Thompson uses fast moving, vigorous images to describe his flight from God who with steadfast love pursued him until he found him. God pursues us too with a steady love.

The words "steadfast love" come from today's first reading but they can be found in several other chapters of the Old Testament also. God's love is so steadfast that, according, to the reading, hundreds of years later, he keeps his promises to Jacob and Isaac. He does so in their descendants by drawing them back to himself despite their resistance and their negligence. He was a true shepherd to them.

Today's Gospel omits the parable of the good shepherd but it doesn't matter. We have before our eyes a human father whose God like compassion seems to exert an irresitible pull on the straying son.

Thompson's God loped steadily after him in hound- like but loving pursuit. The father in the parable, though no longer a young man, ran to embrace his son in overwhelming welcome. We too are pursued by the Father if we stray. We, too, are objects of his dog-like devotion and his shepherd-like care. He will run after us or run to us. He does not stand on his dignity. He does not suffer from wounded pride.