Cycle C - Year II:  

27 March 2022: Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)

(Liturgical Color: Violet or Rose)

Readings:

First Reading:        Joshua 5:9, 10-12

Second Reading:   2 Corinthians 5:17-21

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

The Father's unconditional love!

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

The Scripture readings for this Sunday assure us that our heavenly Father always believes in us with His unconditional love.

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

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.

Now, the Parable of the Prodigal Son is probably one of the most familiar and beautiful stories found in the Gospel, because it reveals to us the great and infinite depth of the Father's love and mercy.  The Parable is sometimes referred to as the Story of the Forgiving Father.  And 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 to find inspiration in our day-to-day Christian living.

The younger son in the parable asked his father for his part 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 far from God.  We should follow the example of the prodigal son who decided to return home and ask his father's forgiveness.

As the story continues, the father doesn't greet the son with reproaches but with immense compassion.  The father welcomes his son home and rejoices that the one who was lost has now returned. In showing forth such love and mercy, the father restores the dignity and worth of his lost son. In other words, the father gives the erring son a new life.

Such is how God deals with us in our sinfulness. God is waiting for repentant children with open arms, even though we don't really deserve it.  The bigness or graveness of our sins doesn't matter and all we have to do is open our heart and return to the Lord. God always hopes for the return of the sinner, and wants him or her to repent.

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 always seen in the company of "questionable" people, and was criticized for keeping their company, and even eating with them.  Our Lord sees promise in His "strange" friends and He befriends them because He comes in search of sinners. awaiting their return to God.

But 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.

In this 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.

Perhaps you 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.  So that there is no need for the older son to be angry. but rejoice with his father that his lost brother is found again.

Laetare 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. So, the altar may be decorated with flowers. Also, rose-colored vestments is allowed instead of purple. The point of Laetare Sunday is to provide us encouragement as we progress toward the end of the penitential season. (Thus, Laetare Sunday is similar in purpose to the Gaudete Sunday in Advent.)

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!