Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
SATURDAY, March 6th Lk. 13: 1-3, 11-32 “Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.”
LUKE 15: THE PARABLES OF GOD’S INFINITE MERCY
Read carefully and meditate upon the three Parables of God’s Mercy and beg for the grace from the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary, the full of grace and Mother of Mercy, to allow the Word of God to touch you in a most powerful way. In the Words of the Apostle Saint Paul, the Word of God is sharp and penetrating as a two-edged sword that separates bone from marrow. (cf. Heb 4:12)
COMMENTARY ON THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON…
- THE SON OF THE FATHER. The son of the Father in this Parable represents all of humanity, and each and every one of us individually. We are challenged to meditate and pray over this Parable and beg for the grace to see ourselves in this story, which is really our personal story.
- GIVE ME THE INHERITANCE. The son cares more for material things, for money and what it can buy, than he does for his Father, much less for any spiritual riches. How easy it is to become blinded by material things, by the erroneous philosophy of Materialism!
- FREEDOM. Here we encounter a key element of God’s love for the human person in that God has endowed all of us with what we term FREE WILL. All of us are given freedom to make choices constantly in our lives.
- THE RISK OF FREEDOM. Of course having freedom always involves a true risk of not using freedom for its proper end and purpose. In other words, we can choose to abuse rather than use our freedom. God respects our free choices, our free decisions, and our free actions.
- LOVE. The reason for the reality of freedom is simply that God wants to be loved by all. Without the reality of freedom, we could never truly love God; we would be robots—a robot acts mechanically and without love!
- SON ABUSES HIS FREEDOM AND WEALTH. And it happened! Once the younger son is given his freedom and his wealth, whatever and however much that may have been, he wastes it. How often have we wasted our time, our efforts, our talents, our money and possessions on superficial and transitory, if not sinful, things?
- WINE, WOMEN, AND THE FAST LIFE. The son gave in to his lower passions and chose the fast life indulging in wine, women, eating—the life of sensual pleasure. He allowed his lower passions to dominate his higher faculties of reason and will. How often have we given in to the same—allowing our animal and base nature to take total control of us, our thoughts, our decisions, our actions, our lives??? Try to make an effort to identify your own life with that of the Prodigal Son, to see some similarities!
- LOST IT ALL! Most likely in a relatively short time, the partying and sensual young man lost it all. Friends, he really never had any in this place from the start! This being the case, he had to find some place, some work to at least provide for meager meals so that he would not die of hunger.
- TENDING PIGS: DEGRADATION TO THE MAX! Of all places and jobs the only one he was able to secure was that of tending pigs. For the Jews, the pig was considered an impure animal, so much so that the kosher/dietary laws prohibited them from eating the meat of pork.
- SIN: DEGRADES THE HUMAN PERSON! God has created us in His image and likeness. Through the Sacrament of Baptism we are transformed into sons and daughters of God and living temples of the Blessed Trinity. We are called to recognize both our dignity as sons and daughters of God, as well as our destiny—we are citizens of Heaven, pilgrims on the way to our heavenly home. Committing sin mars, blurs, defaces the image of God in our soul. Still more, it could prevent us from reaching our final destiny—Heaven!
LEVELS OF DEGRADATION. This now poor young man experiences poverty on various levels due to his becoming a slave to sin.
- PHYSICAL LOSS. On a physical level, he certainly has lost his physique—he has lost much weight and muscle that he had before leaving home.
- APPEARANCE—No physical attractiveness! See him: long beard, unkempt and disheveled hair, covered in filth, rags for clothes—whereas, when he left home, he walked down the street a fine and well-kept figure in elegant and costly clothes.
- FROM ERECT POSTURE TO SLOUCHING. Even his bodily posture has changed—from standing erect, straight, and proud, now his posture is slovenly, crouched, almost a hunch-back.
- SLAVE OF SIN. But the worst of all is that the young man has become a slave of all that is opposed to what is good, pure, and noble. In a word, he has become a slave of his lower passions, he has become a slave of sin!
- SADNESS. Once he experienced peace and joy, when he lived at home with family and friends; now he experiences an overriding gloom and sadness. Life has lost meaning and purpose for him!
This is the first part of the meditation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. You are challenged to enter into the very depths of this Parable, with the Father and Son— the Prodigal Son. Beg for the grace to identify your own life with this story. Beg also for the grace to contemplate humanity in this light.
PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON: PART II
We have left the Prodigal Son tending the pigs. But then something happens in which there is a radical change in the situation, in the life of this young man who has basically thrown his life to the pigs by giving in to sin, sensuality, and his base passions. He has lost all forms of self-respect and dignity that at one time were his!
Let us follow up in this sequel to the first part of the Parable of the Prodigal Son which will soon be transformed into the Parable of the Merciful Father. Miracles indeed do happen, if we allow God’s entrance into our lives.
- GOD’S INTERVENTION: IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY! As the young man contemplates the pigs that he is called to tend, a thought occurs to him: his past life! While at home with his father, he had everything he needed and even more! Food, clothing, shelter, warmth, security, work and his family—all were there for him, free of charge! Now he was in abject misery, almost dying of hunger. Pigs were his companions and not only that, these animals seemed to have it better off than him. He would be content even to have what these pigs had to eat!
- ILLUMINATION: A BRIGHT LIGHT—THE ROAD TO CONVERSION. This thought occurred to him, why not return to his Father’s house? True, He would have to ask for forgiveness and be taken on as a hired hand. But even if he were no longer considered the son of his Father, at least he would have a place to stay, meals to eat, and possibly a humble job to earn his way and recover his dignity.
- I WILL RETURN AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS. His decision was clear: he would return with a repentant heart and hope that possibly the Father would forgive him. Try to picture yourself in this scene with this interior attitude as you rewind the film of your own life. Certainly there must be some type of identification you can make with this wandering son, with this lost sheep, with this lost coin, with this wandering individual!
- THE FATHER’S PATIENCE. Very likely every day, as the sun would rise in the morning and as the sun would close its eyes, the Father of this Prodigal Son would climb the hill and stare down the road where his son left him with the hope that one day he would return! This was the hope that glimmered in the heart of the Merciful Father.
- THE SCENE FROM AFAR. Try then to imagine in your contemplation the scene of the return. The Father is perched and gazing down the road from a distant hill. The Prodigal son is already on his way home, but is only seen from afar.
- RECOGNITION NOT EASY! The Father sees a figure, a phantom in the distance slowly approaching him. The Father surmises that it might be his Prodigal Son, though it certainly does not appear to be the son he knew when he left home. This figure is walking slowly, bent over, head down. This young man is wearing rags and has a long beard, and unkempt and disheveled hair besides. Within, the father doubts that this could be his son—how different in appearance as to when the son departed!
- IT IS MY SON!!! Something happens as the distance shortens. The Father arrives at total certainty that indeed this is his wandering, lost, Prodigal Son. From this point on in our explanation and interpretation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which has now been transformed into the Parable of the MERCIFUL FATHER, we will focus on the abounding, overflowing, incredible and unfathomable Mercy that the Father showers upon his Prodigal Son. All of these points and gifts can serve to help us in our identification with the Prodigal Son and Merciful Father.
- CONFESSION. Furthermore, this Parable serves as a jumping board for all of us to have a limitless trust in God’s Infinite Mercy and to be ready and willing after a good preparation, to receive God’s love, mercy and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Sacrament of His Mercy! Allow yourself to be immersed in the gifts of the Merciful Father to the Prodigal son—to you and to me!
- KISS. Upon meeting with the Prodigal Son, the Father gives him a kiss. Universally, the kiss is a symbol of love. The Father’s love for this son has no limits. The Father was simply waiting patiently for the return of the son. This is a trick of the devil when we sin: the devil tries to trick us into believing that God no longer loves us, that we are unworthy of the love of God the Father! Nothing could be further from the truth. God’s love and mercy are all the stronger towards a returning and repentant son or daughter. As Saint Paul reminds us: “Where sin abounds, the mercy of God abounds even more.” (Rom. 5: 20) Allow the Father to embrace you and to kiss you; allow God the Father to love you!
- HUG. The hug unites with the kiss. The hug symbolizes the Father’s forgiveness. As soon as the son asks for forgiveness, God forgives. In other words, God forgives in a heart-beat when his son or daughter says: “I am sorry! Forgive me!” The Sacrament of Confession is also the Sacrament of God’s forgiveness. There is no sin so serious that God cannot forgive it, if we are sincerely sorry! Jesus did not come for the saints; he came for the sinners. As Jesus said: “It is not the healthy that need the Doctor but the sick.”
- RING. Next the Father places a costly ring on the finger of the Prodigal Son. There are two symbolic interpretations of ring and finger:
1) DIGNITY. A Ring is symbolic of the dignity of the one who receives it.
2) FIRM COMMITMENT TO FAITHFULNESS. Following upon the concept of dignity is that of a firm commitment to be faithful from this point on. When couples exchange their marriage vows, they profess this solemn promise: “I promise to be faithful to you in good times and in bad, in health and in sickness, in poverty and in riches, until death do we part.” So it is with us as Prodigal Sons and Daughters upon making a good Sacramental Confession: we make the firm commitment to give up sin and to avoid the near occasions of sin that led to our past sins.
- SANDALS. Then the Father gives the son new sandals. The purpose? So that he can walk on the right path, the true path, the path that leads to peace, joy, and happiness. The true path that leads to Home, and to our Heavenly Home, where we will encounter one-day God the Father. Also, it bestowed the power to walk on the Way of the Cross that leads to the Glory of the Resurrection.
- SPLENDID NEW GARMENT. Still more, the Father exchanges the rags that the Prodigal Son was wearing with a splendid, elegant, and new garment. His dignity is indeed restored! In a deeply spiritual sense, sin defrocks us of the royal garment of sanctifying grace. Whereas Sacramental Confession restores our soul to the splendid glory and beauty of sanctifying grace! The nakedness of sin has been covered by God’s grace!!!
- STILL MORE… The gifts of the Father are not over; there are still more! Once the Prodigal Son has returned home, then the Father has even greater gifts! How kind, loving, generous and bountiful is the Father! These then are the gifts of the Father, once the son is home safe!
- JOYFUL MUSIC. Upon returning home where the son really belongs there is joyful, festive, happy, exultant music. When you return to your Heavenly Father through a good Sacramental Confession there is joy even in heaven among the angels!
- PARTY—THE CELEBRATION. It is so true that all of heaven rejoices over the return of one sinner to the loving embrace of the Heavenly Father. It is true that God loves all, the entire expanse of the human family. But it also must be said that God the Father loves each one of us individually. Never forget that! He left the 99 sheep to search, pursue, and find the one, so as to finally place gently on his shoulders, the one sheep that was lost.
- THE FATTED CALF OFFERED AND KILLED. Now the Father was going all out for the son. In the Jewish society in the time of Jesus eating meat and that of a fatted calf was done only on very rare occasions. This was one of those rare and very special occasions.
- SYMBOLIC OF HOLY MASS. There is a very clear Sacramental interpretation of this Feast, this Celebration, the music, the killing of the animal. and it refers to the Holy Mass. Once the Prodigal son or daughter has returned home through a good Sacramental Confession and is restored to the state of sanctifying grace, then they are ready and well-disposed to approach the Mass, which is the Sacrifice of Calvary renewed, but it is also the Eucharistic Banquet in which they can be truly nourished with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
- CONFESSION AND COMMUNION WORK AS A TEAM. For this reason, Saint Ignatius highlights the fact that a well-prepared heart-felt Confession done with the best of dispositions, helps immensely the reception of Jesus in Holy Communion. In other words, we must be a true and repentant Prodigal Son or Daughter, receiving the love and forgiveness of the Heavenly Father so that we can receive His Son—Jesus the Bread of Life—worthily in Holy Communion.
- ETERNAL BANQUET. If done, the promise is the best we could possibly imagine: The Eternal Banquet of Heaven. “Whoever eats my Body and drinks my Blood will have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.” (Bread of Life discourse: John, Chapter Six)
Copyright 2021 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
