Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

Jesus says: Celebrate… for this son of mine was dead and has come to life.

This parable is probably one of the most familiar in all of Scripture. The younger son wants more. He wants his inheritance now. He wants to have a good time with the money that will come to him. The trouble is that all good things will come to an end. The son falls on hard times, and the money is gone. He is hungry. He is poverty-stricken. He finally comes to his senses and goes home. He is truly ashamed. It is a terrible thing to be ashamed. It means not only that the person has done wrong, but also that the person feels worthless. He no longer deserves to be called a son. The older son, who never left the farm, is furious that this “brother” has come back penniless and broken in spirit and that the father throws a big party for him. The father is here seen as the heavenly Father who neither disowns his younger son nor sides with the older son. Both deserve reprimand, but instead, what the father offers them both is love. The younger son has known the price of sin and can accept reconciliation. The older son seemingly does not know his sin, but is still offered the father’s love. What we don’t know is if the older son/brother can accept forgiveness. The question for us today is whether we know our own sin. Can we find reason for the Father to forgive us?

Reflection by Fr. Martin DeMeulenaere, OSB