Sunday, March 27th 2022 | By Rev. Michael P. Hanifin
At our Sunday Masses at Saint Joachim this weekend, we have replaced the Cycle C readings with the Cycle A readings for the Second Scrutiny for those preparing to enter the Catholic Church. However, the following is a reflection on the Cycle C readings.
For too many of us, Lent is a season of doom and gloom, a time to feel bad about all the ways we are not “measuring up” in our spiritual lives. But this view could not be further from the truth. Lent is a season of refreshment and love, of awakening and rebirth. The Gospel Reading for this weekend is the parable of the Prodigal Son and is filled with this theme of awakening and the extravagant, life-changing love that the Father has for each one of us.
We are all familiar with this amazing story — the bratty younger son who had the audacity to ask his father for his inheritance early, only to squander it sinfully away. It makes us bristle instinctively at his nerve when we read it. But isn’t that exactly what we do when we selfishly turn away from God (in big or small ways) in our own lives? We squander away the inheritance of grace He has given us.
In desperation from the mess he had made of his life, the son finally “came to his senses” — awakened to the truth that he was a beloved son of a loving and merciful father — and he decided to return home. His contrition was faltering and imperfect and seemed motivated in large part by his growling stomach. But that was enough for the loving father.
In fact, as soon as the father caught sight of his son he was “filled with compassion for him” and immediately set about preparing a feast and fine clothes all for this son. What an extravagance of love! What a beautiful picture Jesus gives us of our Father’s love and mercy. Oh, how this should fill us with gratitude for such a Father! And how it should inspire us — with just the tiniest bit of spiritual “spring cleaning,” we can be sure we will be swept up in our Father’s loving embrace and find ourselves feasting in His presence. That is what the Season of Lent is all about.