Cycle C - Year II:

6 March 2016: Fourth Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical color: Violet or Rose)

Gospel: Please read Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

The Father's unfailing love!

Once a young man was asked, what is his best description of a father. His response, "A dad is the one who will always believe in you."

The central message of the Lenten season is a call to repentance. But sometimes we are apprehensive and fearful that the "graveness" of our sins is beyond forgiveness.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son in this Sunday's Gospel assures us of God's unconditional love for all His children, both the upright and the sinners. It depicts God like a father who always believes in us, in our capacity for repentance and change of heart.

It is said that the Parable of the Prodigal Son is probably is one of the most familiar and beautiful stories found in the Gospel, because in it Jesus reveals to us the great and infinite depth of His Father's love and mercy. That is why sometimes it is referred to as the Story of the Forgiving Father. It is one of Sacred Scripture's most wonderful commentaries on the relationship of God and His people.

Let us reflect further on the message of the parable for inspiration in our day-to-day Christian living.

In the parable, the younger son asked his father for his part of the inheritance, and then foolishly squandered all his share. He is a symbol of the person who cuts himself or herself from God through sin. We are shown the unhappy effect of sin by what happened to the younger son in the story. His experience of hunger evokes the anxiety and emptiness a person feels when he or she is far from God. In the end the prodigal son decided to return home and ask his father's forgiveness.

The father doesn't greet him with reproaches but with immense compassion. He welcomes his son home and rejoices that the one who was lost has now returned. The father has his son back, and that is all that matters to him. In showing forth such love and mercy, he restores the dignity and worth of his son. In other words, he gives him new life.

Such is how God deals with us in our own sinfulness. Like the father in the parable, God is waiting for us with open arms, even though we don't deserve it. Yes, it doesn't matter how big our sin is, all we have to do is open our heart and return to the Lord. Because God always hopes for the return of the sinner, and wants him or her to repent.

In this parable Jesus teaches us that no one is excluded from God's forgiveness and that sinners can become beloved children of God again when we repent and convert. For no one is really rotten to the core. Every person intrinsically responds to God's call for repentance. That is why Jesus is seen in the company of "questionable" people, and was criticized for keeping their company and even eating with them. Yet our Lord sees promise in His "strange" friends and He was not blind to their needs. Because the tax collectors and sinners were the lost ones, like the prodigal son. Jesus befriends them; for He comes in search of the sinners, awaiting their return.

During our Lenten pilgrimage, let us return to the Father's love and mercy by means of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in which, by confessing our sins, we put on Jesus Christ again and become His brothers and members of God's family.

But then we may also ask, "What about the attitude of the older son in the parable who was angry that his father welcomes home again his squanderer-brother?"

Well, we should likewise consider that if God has compassion towards sinners who repent, He must have more compassion and love towards those who strive to be faithful to Him always. Because our God loves each one of us in a special way.

In the Father's house there is no room for jealousy in God's mercy and love. God is faithful and loving Father to those who follow in His way.

Additional Notes: The Fourth Sunday of Lent is also known as Laetare Sunday. "Laetare" means "rejoicing" in Latin. Thus, Laetare Sunday (like Gaudete Sunday in Advent) is traditionally viewed as a day of celebration, on which the austerity of Lent is briefly lessened. The altar may be decorated with flowers, and rose-colored vestments are allowed instead of purple.

The point of Laetare Sunday (and Gaudete Sunday) is to provide us encouragement as we progress toward the end of the penitential season.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!