03 March: Sat. of Week 2 of Lent

1st Reading: Micah 7:14-15, 18-20)

Israel’s God is a God of mercy

Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, which lives alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, show us marvellous things.
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.

Responsorial Psalm (from Ps 103)

Response: The Lord is kind and merciful

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. (R./)
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion. (R./)
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes. (R./)
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us. (R./)

Gospel: Luke (15:1-3, 11-32)

The parable of the Prodigal Son

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “”There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ‘ So he set off and went o his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe — the best one — and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

There’s always Hope

Today’s parable tells of an inheritance that was wasted on dissolute living. But the prodigal son hopes that the Father will somehow take him back. The Micah passage also talks about hope. The people of Judah have been “trampled underfoot,” and driven off to a foreign land. This disaster was due to the people’s sins, insisted the prophet, and must not be explained just by the enemy’s vastly superior army. Even now that the exile has ended and the poverty-stricken people have returned to Jerusalem, they are insignificant numerically and economically. The prophet begs God to “show us wonderful signs . . . as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old” (v 15, 20).
The prodigal son, too, survived on his memories and so was humble and courageous enough to seek a way back. “Coming to his senses at last” meant that the goodness of the father, planted within the bones and blood of the son, finally caught up with the young man and overcame his wayward resistance. A beautiful touch in Jesus’ parable indicates that from a distance the father was willing the boy to come home, before the son ever noticed him. It almost seems as if the father’s desire had been reaching across miles and mountains to touch the faith of the son. The son’s remembrance might even be like a passive surrender to a hidden stimulant, calling out for love and celebration.
A newly awakened hope could be the miracle our Church needs right now. Our legacy to future generations is this trust in God’s total goodness at the very core of our existence. From our heavenly home we can beckon sons and daughters on the right path, as we wait for them to come home. We may ultimately celebrate like the father upon the return of the prodigal son. When God’s deeply planted life in us makes all these claims come true, the family of God’s children will be complete.

That other son

Without doubt, the most captivating parable is the one about the “good father”, often called “the parable of the prodigal son”. It’s this “younger son” who has always attracted the attention of commentators and preachers. His return home and the unbelievable welcome he received from his father have moved Christians of all generations.
However the parable also speaks about the “older son”, a man who stays home with his father, without imitating the licentious life of his brother, far from home. When they inform him of the party organized by his father to welcome the lost son, he remains upset. His brother’s return doesn’t make him happy, like his father, but mad: “He was angry then and refused to go in” to the party. He never left home, but now he feels like a stranger among his own family.
The father goes out to invite him with the same tenderness with which he has welcomed his brother. He doesn’t shout or order. With humble love “he tries to persuade him” to come into the welcome home party. It’s then that the son explodes, making his resentment known. He’s spent his whole life fulfilling his father’s orders, but he hasn’t learned to love as his father loves. Now all he knows how to do is demand his rights and put his brother down.
This is the tragedy of the older son. He’s never left home, but his heart has always been far away. He knows how to fulfill commandments but he doesn’t know how to love. He doesn’t understand his father’s love for that lost son. He doesn’t welcome or forgive him, he doesn’t want to know anything about his brother. Jesus ends his parable without satisfying our curiosity: does he enter the party or does he stay outside?
Caught up in the religious crisis of modern society, we’re used to talking about believers and non-believers, about practicing Christians and fallen-aways, about marriages blessed by the Church and couples living together¦ While we keep classifying God’s children, God keeps waiting for us all, since God isn’t property of good people or of practicing Christians. God is Father of all.
The “older son” challenges those of us who think we live near the Father. What are we doing, we who haven’t abandoned the Church? Are we keeping up our religious existence by observing what’s commanded the best we can, or are we witnesses of God’s great love for all God’s sons and daughters? Are we building open communities who know how to understand, welcome and accompany those who seek God in the midst of doubts and questions? Do we raise barriers or do we build bridges? Do we offer friendship or do we look on others with suspicion?