Lent - Day Eighteen - Two Sins and A Father's Love

Gospel
Luke 15:1-3,11-32 ©

The prodigal son

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

  ‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

  ‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

  ‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

  ‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

  ‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

I wasn't able to write in my journal yesterday so let me recap what has gone on yesterday and today.  Yesterday was a lost day.  We were at a small oasis and the Master said he needed to be alone for a while to pray so we did not break camp, we stayed in oasis the whole day while the Master was by himself.  He sat under the coolness of a palm tree near the waters of the oasis.  Uriah, our team leader, used some of this time to have us make needed repairs to the saddles we use to load our camels down.   But by lunchtime, all of the work he could think of was done and he told us to rest for the rest of the day.  The Master was still in his place by the water. None of us dared to interrupt Him while He was in prayer.  He neither ate nor drank that day and He sat there all night.  Around the campfire, we spoke only softly because we did not want to disturb the Master.  When bedtime came we all silently departed and took to our beds in silence.  I had a hard time sleeping that night so I spent time in prayer.  My soul needed this time more than my body needed rest I guess.  I audited carefully my life to date and I found myself lacking in many ways. It jolted my soul to realize that the person I thought I was, actually was an airbrushed caricature of what I really was.  I glossed over my many mistakes and sins and yet held others strictly accountable for them.  My vision was clear and could detect other's errors at a thousand yards, yet I could not see how I had failed my family, my friends, and my Church so blatantly and with no remorse.  Tears began to fall from my eyes and it was in this state that sleep claimed me.  I awoke it seemed only moments later to the call from the leather lungs of Uriah getting us out of bed to start another day.  The Master, looking well and rested even though he did not come to His tent at all, took breakfast with us and He made the meal memorable with His wit and charm.  

Twelve hours later we stopped again for the night.  It was kind of an odd place, a windswept dusty plain that had the look of utter devastation and loneliness.  The only thing good about it was there was a supply of dead wood from the scorched plants about so making the fire tonight was easier than usual. The Master recounted to us the story of the Prodigal Son. We, being Christians, know that story well.  The young son abandons his family, loses all he has and comes back with his tail between his legs ready to beg for forgiveness. He decides he will offer his father his services as a slave for his food.   The father for his part had spent the time since his youngest departed from home watching for his return, he saw him while he was far off.  The father abandoning his dignity ran to the son and immediately treated him once again as the son that he was. He threw a party, it was a good day for all, except for the fatted calf of course who fulfilled his destiny at the dinner that day.  Meanwhile, the elder son, who had stayed with his father, came in from a hard days work in the fields.  He heard that his stupid younger brother was home again and that dad was throwing him a party.  He was outraged.  He refused to go in.  Once again, leaving his dignity behind, the father came out and pleaded with his son to come in.  The elder son, who momentarily forgot his place, vented his spleen against the father and pointed out that he had worked like a slave and yet there was no party for him.  The father reminds him of his love and tells him that everything he has belongs to the elder son.  But he as the father has to rejoice because the younger son, after being lost to the family has returned.  He was dead and now lives again. 

As I said the story is a familiar one.  The master talked at some length about it.  He gave us an insight into the story that I had never considered before.  He pointed out that both sons, each in his own way, were disobedient to the Father.  The younger son told his father, "The heck with you, I want to go out and see the world while I am still young enough to enjoy it."  The father, of course, could have refused, but he did not stand in his son's way.  But the question then comes how did the elder son sin against his father?  Did he not stay and work his fingers to the bone to make his father even more wealthy than he already was?  Didn't he do this without complaint and did he not serve loyally all those years while his sibling was consorting with lewd women and drinking cheap wine? The answer was, of course, he did all these things but what he said to his father showed that his appearance to others did not match what was in his soul.  In his own way, he showed he was working not for the father but in fact for himself by making the farm a success he was doing so to preserve his future and to necessarily please his father.  

So one son left and came back willing to be called a slave and the other son stayed and worked and felt like a slave.  The father loved his sons without measure and he forgave them each their respective sins which were sins of disrespect due to him because he was the Father.  And the father showed himself to be righteous because he did not stand on ceremony.  He did not wait for the boys to appear before him.  He surrendered all dignity he was due and went out to them.  He forgave them.  They were lost and now they were found. But the question remains, did the elder son join the party?

Choose

Joshua made this announcement and then asked the people what they were going to do.  He asks them if they will serve the Lord or if they would prefer to serve the local gods of the Amorites. The people point out to Joshua that the Lord was the One who led them out of Egypt, and who had performed great miracles right before their very eyes. The people pointed out that God had driven the local pagans out of the land that they were now standing on and they tell them that it is their decision to serve the Lord that had done all of these great things for them.  Joshua asks them if they are sure about this because the Lord may not forgive them if they worship the pagan gods of the Amorites or others.  The people almost with one voice declared that they would follow and serve the Lord.  The rest, as they say, is history.  The people try their best, but time and time again they fail and fail big time and end up going into exile and into slavery. Each time they went into slavery they learned to trust and depend on the Lord more and more and eventually their time of servitude would end and they would emerge as the Lord's people again.  

For me, it is the same as what happened to my ancestors in the time of Joshua.  I was young and sinless (more or less) and I learned about sin by experiencing it first hand.  I then went to confession and before God and His Church, I confessed what I had done and promised with the help of God's grace to sin no more.  For a while I kept my promise, fiercely turning away the devil's attempts to lure me back. My resolve would be great but my strength would drain. 

Soon I would hear the siren song of the mermaid on the rocks and I would leave the safety of my boat and swim to the rocks where she would tease me and keep me away from safety until weary from the struggle of the wind and the waves I would begin to sink as the mermaid who was so friendly before laughed at my plight as the waves claimed me.  I would then have no choice but to call upon Jesus, and He would come to my rescue and I would find myself back in the confessional, confessing the same sins that I had committed before and once again I would promise not to commit again.  This time, I was sure.  This time I would make it.  But then after some time had passed I would hear the alluring siren song again and because of the grace of God at work in me, I would resist mightily again but the allure eventually became too great and I would once again swim to the rocks forgetting the lesson of my last swim. 

What we cannot do ourselves in our attempt to serve the Lord, we must give the Lord and plead for help.  Help will come in the form of grace but always remember when we are at our strongest, we are most vulnerable to the siren song and allures of this world.  But be of good cheer, if you turn back with all your heart and at least try to serve the Lord, He will see what you are doing, He will approve and He will help you.  You may sin again, but the sound of the mermaid calling to you will have to be louder each time you resist her charms.  Eventually, the voice of your conqueror will be conquered by the voice of your Father in heaven, His constant love and attention to you will win the day.  

Ordinary and yet Extraordinary

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus.

They were ordinary men. You could say that in a way that they were just like you and me.  Arising each morning, each of them began their day full of hope and they dressed, ate a bit of breakfast and went to work. They put in a full day, went home, rested, went to sleep and the next day they did it all over again.  Yes, you could say that they are just like you and me.  One day, one glorious day, everything changed.  They were called by this man that they had heard about called Jesus. He was known to be a great teacher, afraid of neither Pharisee, Sadducee, or the Pagan Romans.  They left everything behind and they began to follow Him.  They saw many wonders and speculated between themselves who this Jesus was.  It was Peter, the first one called to be a fisher of men that first acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God.  It was Peter on whom Jesus placed the mantle of leadership, and it was Peter who when given the chance saved himself and denied his Lord, but later repented and was received back by Jesus.  Yes, these men are a microcosm of all of the eventual followers of the Lord because He chose not the strong and the wise, he chose the incredibly average.  He also included among that number one that in the end betrayed Him to the authorities, making it possible for them to rather quietly dispose of an inconvenient messiah. 

Remember this fellow Catholics, from the Pope on down, we are ordinary people, all members of the Church that Christ built on the Rock of Peter. This Church is built with Christ as the cornerstone. The founder and His teachings hold the whole thing together as we await the moment of His return to claim His bride again. Our Church was not the invention of a mere man but rather it was the will of the Father, the work of the Son, and the constant protection of the Holy Spirit that gave her birth, sustained her through good and bad and that will keep her safe until the wonderful day when Jesus returns.

It is not through any action on our part that the Church is holy.  It is because of who the founder is, Jesus, and who sustains His Church in error free teaching, the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

Please Explain Yourself !

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.

Always be ready to give an explanation

to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,

but do it with gentleness and reverence,

keeping your conscience clear,

so that, when you are maligned,

those who defame your good conduct in Christ

may themselves be put to shame.

For it is better to suffer for doing good,

if that be the will of God than for doing evil.

Yesterday, I wrote about the world and how if the Church is doing a good job the world will hate us. Today, we are asked to always be ready to explain why we are a Christian.  We are told to do so gently and reverently.  So, what do you say if someone asks you why you are a Catholic Christian?   How do you respond? 

First, how would someone determine if you were a Christian? Could they tell just by looking at you?  Could they tell by a close examination of your conduct that you were different than someone who does not profess to be a friend of Jesus?  If we go back to our roots in the first century we can see that Christians of that era were known because they loved each other so much. Do we exude the aura of love in what we do and say?  Or, are we just another regular Joe (or Jane) that works nine to five and collects a paycheck to pay the bills and maybe, just maybe, have a little bit of transient joy by engaging in the things of this world.  If we could not be convicted in a court of law of being a Catholic Christian than it is unlikely anyone would bother asking why we seem different because we aren't.  If we practice our religion on Sunday and that carefully pack it away for the rest of the week, then it makes no difference in our lives.  We in effect become an undercover Catholic.  We keep our pious lives safe and secure and  no one is the wiser. 

But, if you get asked, what do you respond?  Do you break out your Bible and thump it and scream that they had better accept Jesus as their savior or suffer the pains of hell forever more?  There is nothing like going for the jugular vein.  The direct approach wastes no one's time and unfortunately discourages the person because the yelling and screaming gets lost in the noise generated by the world itself.  There will be nodding and agreement and once you walk self-righteously away, everything you have said will be filed away in the same place that the person files the information attained in late night infomercials.  

It is important to have a reason for your belief that is both honest and true.  And this reason should be self-evident in the way you conduct yourself and your words should simply confirm that what you have shown them on the outside is matched by what comes from inside. What could the reason be?  Can you put it into words?  I think our hope comes from the fact that in the Church we are united by one Bread and one Body.  I think that we are united in a spirit of love and honest and responsible conduct and gentle treatment of all we meet. We are that way because we know and believe that we are special.  We are not just ordinary Joes or Janes.  We are adopted children of the Father who loves us with a love that is impossible for us to fully understand.  It is this love, that we have in our hearts that we just have to share with those around us.  This sharing of love, this kindness in a world where a smile might be met with a fist, is what we have that the world does not have and what it longs for. 

Words can be powerful things.  Writers are skilled at arranging words to make a point.  Orators are skilled at swaying emotions through the use of vocabulary, inflection, and gesture.  But what if you are a person who cannot write and you are too shy to stand before a group of people and to try to sway them with pearls of wisdom dropping from your vocal chords?  It is very simple.  You live your life giving love and patience to all, accepting the good and the bad with equal joy and people will notice that there is something different about you.  This will attract them to you and eventually they will see that you are you because of Christ within you.  Our Church is not built on great orators or writers, both of which are needed. Our Church is built by those that use their life to make a difference to each person that they meet. 

Finally, do not be too concerned if your good attitude and mode of living brings to you rejection.  It will come.  Do not be concerned if you are the victim of persecution for that goes hand in hand with being a Christian from the beginning.  Your hope and your strength are not centered in this world, they are centered in heaven.  Your victory has already been won and that is why you can hope while the world dwells in hopelessness.  Let the brightness of your soul shine forth with the radiance of a thousand billion suns and let the world come and see why you shine so brightly.