Cycle C - Year I:  

31 March 2019: Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)

(Liturgical Color: Violet or Rose)

Readings:

First Reading:        Joshua 5:9a, 10-12

Second Reading:   2 Corinthians 5:17-21

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

Our heavenly Father's unconditional love!

A young man was asked"What is the best description of a father?"  His response: "A dad is one who will always believe in you!"

This Sunday's Scripture readings assure us that our heavenly Father always believes in us with His unconditional love.

Now remember that 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.

So today's Parable of the Prodigal Son 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.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is probably 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.

The younger son in the parable asked his father for his part of the inheritance, and then foolishly squandered all his share. He is a symbol of a 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.

Now 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 lost son. In other words, the father gives the son 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 really deserve it. It doesn't matter how big or grave 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.

So Jesus is teaching us in this parable 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. There is no helpless soul, for the soul is God's implanted hope in every human person. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ 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 befriends them; for He comes in search of sinners, awaiting their return.

So like in the parable of the lost son, to receive the inheritance from God is not any merit of ours. It is a gratuitous gift. The inheritance of the gifts of God is distributed among all human beings, whether Jewish or Gentiles, whether Christians or non-Christians. All receive something of the inheritance of the Father, but not all take care of it in the same way.

During our Lenten pilgrimage, let us return to the Father's love and mercy by means of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. So that 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 reflection for this Sunday:

The fourth Sunday of Lent is also known as Laetare Sunday. "Laetare" means "rejoicing" in Latin. Thus, Laetare Sunday 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 is allowed instead of purple. (Laetare Sunday is similar to Gaudete Sunday which is the third Sunday of Advent.)  The point of Laetare Sunday (and also Gaudete Sunday in Advent) 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!