Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We welcome you to St. Joe’s parish and those who also might be watching on line over the internet (SundayStreams.com/go/stjoseph). This Sunday in Lent is called Laetare Sunday since all the readings have this sense of joy because the saving death and resurrection of Christ is coming soon. We can enter that experience even 2,000 years after it occurred.
The gospel of the Prodigal Son is surely one of the most popular parables in the entire Bible and gives us a sense of what God our Father is like. I was always afraid of my father until he took two of my brothers and me out for a beer when I was in college. That event helped me to see my father in a different way and established a friendship between us. I saw him in a new way and this started a change in our relationship. Even though today’s gospel is called the Prodigal Son it seems to me more about the mercy and love of the Father for both sons, and for us.
Cardinal John Newman, who was an Anglican priest and through his studies realized that the Catholic Church is the one true Church. He made a very courageous decision to become a Catholic and had to resign from teaching at Oxford University and soon after he was ordained as a Catholic priest. Later on in life the Pope made him a Cardinal for his service to the Church in England. I like some of his ideas on this gospel and I promise that my homily will be much shorter than his.
Was there a time, on a certain day, when you really began to seek God more seriously and serve him faithfully and never turned back? As a Christian are we not always beginning again and playing the part of a prodigal son or daughter? Did we not squander his gifts yesterday or last month and sense that we have to return back to him once again?
I don’t think for most of us that we moved from a state of disobedience to a state of personal conversion where we never turned our back on God. I think the gospel describes our life as it is day to day. Are we not often going in the wrong direction and seeking life in money or jobs or people who cannot give us life? Don’t we often wander away from God and get a bit lost? For sure we mature as we get older and become more committed Christians, but I think all of us can see ourselves in some way as the younger brother in this parable.
It could be that when we returned to the Church in some way we did it out of fear of punishment, or for the kids, or to get married in the Church. And now perhaps we see the need to turn back to God for more mature reasons. Maybe we started out as a hired worker, or out of a sense of duty or obligation, and now we are seeing or would like to see God as my Father, one who always looks out for me and loves me, and one I like to be with.
You don’t find in the younger brother one who is trying to earn his way back into the good will of his father. He is not bringing flowers or buying Broadway tickets for his father. He is unconditionally surrendering and willing to be a hired hand. There is not bargaining or scheming to win over anyone. It is an instant surrender of himself as soon as he sees his terrible condition. He is like a rebel that has to lay down his arms.
This parable teaches us the character of a true penitent. Perhaps it is not what we did the first time we turned back to God but it gives us a model of the way we should be. It is a model of the way we turn to God before we die. We surrender ourselves to him knowing that we are, at times, worse than the last servant. Often in confession people tell of their achievements, not their sins. It is important for us to learn the truth and say it.
We know that Christ died for the ungodly; he came for the sinners. It is striking that Jesus ate with those who did not keep the dietary laws. He could have just visited them or had Starbucks with them, but no, he ate with them! St. Francis is like Christ also when he doesn’t run away from the leper but he goes and hugs him and kisses him. He does something that was repulsive to him before; he does it because Christ is in him.
Imagine the joy of the Father when this younger son returns to him. This son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and now he is found. I think this is the reason why we hear this gospel on Laetare Sunday. I hope that the person returning to the church for the first time doesn’t meet the elder brother. He would scorn him, not welcome him, and treat him badly. Without thinking perhaps we have not been so welcoming to the new brother or sister who are in our parish. Take a moment to get to know their names and welcome them sincerely.
It is important for all of us not to stand outside the Church like an older brother. We ought not to be distant from taking a more active role. Enter the Church with all your heart. See how you can help, and what people you can bring to the church this Lent or Easter. Don’t stand outside the church, but enter it!