Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
“A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need.
So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger.
I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers. So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.
But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found. Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house he heard the sound of music and dancing.
He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. He became angry and when he refused to enter the house his father came out and pleaded with him.
He said to his father in reply ‘Look, all
these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never
gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son
returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter
the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your
brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.
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Reflection:
What kind of God is Jesus? He is a God of encompassing love, mercy and forgiveness, what does this mean? This simply means that nobody is beyond reach of the love of God. No matter how sinful we are and no matter who we are still loved dearly by our God.
But there’s one quality that we must have to experience God’s love mercy and forgiveness. And this is repentance, we have to realize first our own sinfulness and have the desire to walk away from our sinfulness and be one again with God.
After wasting his inheritance to debauchery and sinfulness the younger son in the gospel parable had a humbling experience. He had nowhere to go, he lived a life of a beggar so to speak.
So different from his life of comfort when he was still with his father. He therefore said to himself, instead of suffering this difficult situation why not go back home and ask for forgiveness from my father? And he did, to make a long story short his father forgave him.
Let us think and reflect about our own sinfulness and the many offenses that we’ve done that created distance between us and Jesus. Let us heal that distance by humbly asking for His forgiveness. This we can do best if we would humbly submit ourselves to the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Would you submit yourself to the Sacrament of Reconciliation? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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