Fourth Sunday of Lent (C) 3/30/25

1st rdg Josh 5:9a,10-12 people of God, promised land, celebrate passover psalm. 34 Taste and see the goodness of the Lord

2nd rdg 2 Cor 5:17-21 God has reconciled himself to us through Christ gospel. Lk 15:1-3, 11-12. The return of the prodigal / the merciful Father

Jesus wants us to understand that God is full of compassion, so we learn in hearing the parable of the return of the prodigal. So many ways to approach this text: why did it take so long for the son to return? – what in me is like the other son, dismayed at having been good and feeling the bad one gets a better deal? – is God ignoring all my efforts to be faithful and celebrating the jerks who satisfy their self gratification and when it all runs out, say I better go home? – or as Pope John Paul II said, is this parable the icon of Christ revealing God’s merciful love? Saint Paul is clearly saying God has reconciled himself to us through Christ. Perhaps the comparing doesn’t help and leads us away from the essential truth, God wants us all to come home and the path home is not the same for everyone. With our Jewish forebears, God keeps trying to lead us away from enslavement into the richness of life in him, but the path takes us through hard times and circumstances and the part of us that wants the easy way forgets to see that in embracing our humanity Jesus wasn’t on the easy road. Lent asks us to do a close up on this story, learning to see when we pan out for the wider angle, not leaving the Father’s house is less exciting, but the excitement fades and you run out of entertainments, and you worry you won’t be welcome, but the important truth is that God desires to share eternity with all of us, and how we find the way to be at home with God, is as complex for each one as it has to be. Today whichever child we are, the resounding message is God saying I love you! – You are infinitely precious to me! Let’s all take time today to remember that and refuse to let less important things have a more prominent place in our thoughts.