Forgiving is Loving

Viernes de Dolores 27 March 2015

Gospel             Luke 15:11-32

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Reflection

By Fidji Rivera-Sarmiento

“…Yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.”’

The naïve me used to think, ang daya (How unfair). Even in high school, each time this was discussed in the classroom or retreats, in my mind, I would mutter, ang daya-daya nung tatay (That father is very unfair). Of course, this is also me when I see good things happen to bad people.

Now I realized that this is the very core of that dangerous sense of entitlement, the “I-Deserve-This” thinking. It starts with jealousy or envy, then it escalates to a pity party. Entitlement borders on narcissism, and is way different than self-worth. Should the good son been genuine in being upright, then he should not feel in any way jealous of the prodigal son’s celebration. He must also not expect any reward at all from his compassionate father.

In the past, this parable centered on the prodigal son. Being prodigal means to spend resources, i.e. money, recklessly. I wonder why in Filipino this story usually translates to alibughang anak, when alibugha means taksil, more appropriately used on an unfaithful partner. Gladly, this parable eventually evolved to focus on the compassionate and forgiving father.

We can learn many things from this loving dad. How well do we forgive those who have wronged us? How many times have we given up on those who betrayed us? How do we deal with family members who went the wrong way?

Forgiving is loving. And when we forgive, we don’t do it for the other person. We do it to free ourselves.

So ponder on.

Who are you in this story? The prodigal son? The jealous brother? Or the brokenhearted father?

Prayer

Dear Jesus, more than anything today, we ask for Your Holy Spirit to help us manage our emotions. We believe that it is only with You that we can react to situations appropriately. You have shown us how it is to be a human, and we would want to follow You. Help us. Teach us. Fine-tune our thoughts, so we can proclaim Your kingdom through our ways. Amen.

Unconditional Love

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct 26
First reading                                        Exodus 22:20-26
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell the sons of Israel this:   ‘“You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt. You must not be harsh with the widow, or with the orphan; if you are harsh with them, they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry; my anger will flare and I shall kill you with the sword, your own wives will be widows, your own children orphans.   ‘“If you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among you, you must not play the usurer with him: you must not demand interest from him.   ‘“If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him before sunset. It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his body in; what else would he sleep in? If he cries to me, I will listen, for I am full of pity.”’
Psalm                                                Psalm 17:2-4,47,51

Second reading                               1 Thessalonians 1:5-10

You observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you, which was for your 
instruction, and you were led to become imitators of us, and of the Lord; and it was with the 
joy of the Holy Spirit that you took to the gospel, in spite of the great opposition all round 
you. This has made you the great example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia since it 
was from you that the word of the Lord started to spread – and not only throughout 
Macedonia and Achaia, for the news of your faith in God has spread everywhere. We do 
not need to tell other people about it: other people tell us how we started the work among 
you, how you broke with idolatry when you were converted to God and became servants of 
the real, living God; and how you are now waiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from 
the dead, to come from heaven to save us from the retribution which is coming.

Gospel                                          Matthew 22: 34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’

Reflection

By Beth Eguia

We live in a stressful busy world. We wake up early in the morning, prepare ourselves for work or for school. We commute daily either in a jeepney, bus or MRT. Upon reaching the office we get engrossed with deadlines, internal and external meetings. When tasks are not finish, we extend our stay in the office, goes home too tired to handle other things and just want to rest. For some individuals especially the mothers, they still need to check on their children, do other chores before they sleep at night. It varies also from country to country like here in Singapore, everything is fast pace. You need to do multi-tasking at times and even when you sleep, you still think about work.

I wonder, how do we really show our love to others, to God when we live in this kind of set-up? Hard isn’t it? I personally am a busy person. I am fully occupied at work especially due to deadlines of project implementation. There were moments I ask God, Lord have I shown my love to you with all my heart, my soul, my mind? It made me reflect before I was able to answer that question. I prayed for it so God could enlighten me then suddenly everything just pops out of the blue. To love God is to be our best, living a life dedicated and offered to Him regardless of who and what we are, and what we do in life. Loving God with all my mind is offering all my dailythoughts, my desires, my ambitions my goals and plans to Him even my deepest fears, frustrations, worries. Yes I am not perfect. I am sinful. I struggle most of the times in doing good. But by His grace, I humble myself unto Him and lift every small and big details in my life. God has shown me His unconditional love in simple and extra ordinary ways. Living alone and far from family is not an easy thing. I have to fight being homesick and being lonely. When I feel empty and I cry at night, I ask Him to embrace me and I would just feel relieved and loved. It may be hard to comprehend but it’s the truth. He does make me feel loved. Simple smile from other people you just pass by the street, kind gesture of being offered a seat in the MRT, the feeling of being understood by others when at times I am not in good mood. These are just some of the ways God has express His love to me and it is but rightful and fitting to show the same to Him.

God’s love is unconditional, no ifs no buts for Him. He loves us even when we are in good mood, bad mood, even when we left Him so many times. Remember the youngest son who got all his share in the family wealth and squander all his money? He came back sorry for what he did and still his father was the happiest person and prepared a feast for him. That’s our God, truly amazing.

Prayer

To our dearest and loving God, we honour You and thank You for loving us unconditionally despite of our shortcomings. Grant us the grace of humility especially at times when we are wrong, when we are full of pride. Grant us understanding, patience, wisdom so that we may live each moment of our lives in accordance to Your will. Guide us also that in everything that we do, we may offer and dedicate it for Your greater glory. Amen.