Fourth Sunday of Lent
06 March 2016
The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.’
The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening in the plain of Jericho. On the morrow of the Passover they tasted the produce of that country, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn, that same day. From that time, from their first eating of the produce of that country, the manna stopped falling. And having manna no longer, the Israelites fed from that year onwards on what the land of Canaan yielded.
Psalm Psalm 33:2-7
| Second reading 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 |
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For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men’s faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.
Gospel Luke 13:1-9
The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:
‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.
‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.
‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”
‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’
Reflection
By Grace B. MadriñanThe parable today is more popularly known as “The Prodigal Son”. I need not elaborate further what this is all about as I believe you have read and heard of this many times over.
To tell you honestly, there are actually times when I am having a hard time accepting how the prodigal son can easily move back to the comfortable life after squandering half of his Father’s wealth. I cannot blame the “responsible son” for reacting the same way. If I were him, I could have acted the same way, maybe even gave him cold shoulders for a few weeks just to make him suffer a bit more.
Recalling one of the talks at the Feast (Catholic prayer gathering of the Light of Jesus family), our preacher shared that most Christians (including Catholic Christians), who are in the ministry or community, are like the “responsible son”. We tend to be self-righteous to the point that we feel that we should be more privileged or more blessed because we have been good to our service. Even if we admit or not, we tend to get awry and even doubtful when a rebel returns home.
Over the years, I realized that the parable is neither about the prodigal son nor the better son. It is about the forgiving Father. The love and mercy of a Father is something that we cannot fully define. The only truth that we know is that no amount of sin is greater than the love of a Father. This is how our God is -- ever loving, ever forgiving. His love overwhelms our soul. His love cleanses and leads us to conversion. Sooner enough, His love magnifies our lives.
Who am I, then, to deny such love?
Prayer
Ever loving Father, we thank and glorify You for Your stubborn love for us. Never let us go from Your hold, and let Your love and generosity rub on us so that we can do the same for our returning brothers. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.
