HOMECOMING
Today, we celebrate Laetare Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Lent marked by a rose liturgical color from the usual purple. We learn that the word “Laetare” in the Latin text means “Rejoice,” and is drawn from the first text in the Mass, the Entrance Antiphon. It is about midpoint of the Lenten season and on Laetare Sunday, the Church expresses hope and joy that awaits us at Easter, as we journey towards the days of Passiontide.
The Readings today of the Israelites’ first Passover in the Promised Land, the Parable of the Prodigal Son and St. Paul’s teaching on becoming a new creation in Christ -- encourage us to reflect on God’s unfailing love and mercy, forgiveness and offering it to others, reconciliation, transforming our outlook, actions, decisions and relationships and to be a new creation in Christ.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is familiar to us and which we do not tire to read time and again, is found only in the Gospel of Luke. This Parable together with two other Parables in Luke 15 -- the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin paints for us a portrait of God. We are called to respond and echo the infinite love of God. In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, out of the 100 sheep, God will find the one lost sheep who wandered away. In the Parable of the Lost Coin, God will find that one small coin as the woman did when she searches relentlessly for her lost coin and when it is found, she invites her friends and neighbours to rejoice and celebrate.
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father had been waiting and watching for his son’s homecoming. Rather than his son running to him, the father ran to his son when he was a long way off, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. His son had insulted him, rebelled, and squandered everything, and yet the father welcomes and embraces him, slaughters the fattened calf, and celebrates his son’s return.
The painting (in our image page & available via this link The Return of the Prodigal Son (Rembrandt, c.1662)) “The Return of the Prodigal Son” by the 17TH century artist, Rembrandt had a deep impression and impact on Henri Nouwen who wrote the book also entitled, “The Return of the Prodigal Son (1991).” The painting was on Henri Nouwen’s mind for 3 years since a chance encounter of a reproduction and he had an opportunity to see the painting in person at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
In his reflection, Henri Nouwen writes “I am the younger son, I am the older son and, on my way, to become the Father.” There are times in our experiences, where we are like the younger son searching for home in something and someone other than the Father; running away at times quite lost, wandered far and wide and at end of it all tired and homeless and felt like the prodigal son on his way home. In being the elder son, who is dutiful. He serves his father without complaint, takes pride in being “the good son” and wishes to be acknowledged. He becomes furious, does not understand nor welcome his brother, and refuses to come in when his brother returns and is restored to the same level in the family. We are reminded of the Pharisees and scribes at the start of Luke 15, when they do not understand why Jesus welcomes and has meals with sinners and tax collectors.
The father, however, loves both of his sons dearly. In his love, he shows the proper place of freedom and duty. He is generous and forgiving with his younger son, welcoming him back wholeheartedly. He could have easily been offended by the older brother’s attitude but instead reassures him of his love and shared inheritance, saying “my son, you are with me always and all I have is yours” (Luke 15:31)
There is much which we can apply to our own lives. Both sons lived in their father’s house yet they do not understand who their father is, his mercy and love, unwilling to respond and to be equally extravagant in the gift of love. Can we identify with the four persons we see in Rembrandt’s painting - one is gazing, one other judging, another sitting with hands crossed; the all too familiar ways we choose to not get involved. Some of us may at times feel we have little to offer, but as Mother Teresa famously said “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love,” emphasizing that even insignificant actions can have a profound impact when infused with love and dedication.
Ultimately Henri Nouwen writes that this discloses our own relationship to God and to realize that the great human calling is to move beyond the role of son to become heir. To become like the Father, whose generous, compassionate hands reach out in mercy and love. The challenge is to love as God loves, to be reaffirmed in our faith that we are loved as God’s beloved when encountering the ups and downs, and for those burdened with loneliness, dejection, bitterness, anger, and living in difficult times.
In the New Testament, God's forgiveness is revealed through Jesus' words and deeds. In pardoning sins, Jesus shows the face of God the merciful Father. By opposing certain religious tendencies marked by hypocritical severity towards sinners, he shows on various occasions how great and profound is the Father's mercy towards all his children (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1443).
St. Pope John Paul II has written and spoken about the need for us to turn to the mercy of God as the answer to the specific problems of our times. He placed a strong focus and devotion on the Divine Mercy message that carries on till today, where this fire of mercy needs to be passed on to the world. In the mercy of God, the world will find peace and mankind will find happiness. He said “there is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy – that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights of the holiness of God (Shrine of Divine Mercy in Cracow, June 7, 1997). He wrote on the examination of the role of mercy —both God's mercy, and the need for human mercy. Mercy — as Christ has presented it in the parable of the prodigal son — has the interior form of the love that in the New Testament is called "agape." This love can reach down to every prodigal son, to every human misery, and above all to every form of moral misery, to sin. When this happens, the person who is the object of mercy does not feel humiliated, but rather found again and "restored to value." The father first and foremost expresses to him his joy that he has been "found again" and that he has "returned to life". (St. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter “Dives in Misericordia [On the Mercy of God]” November, 1980).
In the week ahead, we will be having our Lenten Penitential Services. We give thanks to the Lord and are grateful for the Sacrament of Reconciliation -- God’s merciful plan gives us a living encounter of His presence, which is forgiveness, mercy and love that heals and saves us. This Lent, we pray in repentance, seeking grace in our confession and reconciliation. As God runs to us like the father of the prodigal son in His divine mercy and unfailing love for us, let us embrace these messages, seek forgiveness and offer it to others. Our old ways are gone, we are made new, and we celebrate the new beginnings God gives us. We pray for our Blessed Mother Mary to accompany us in our journey.