Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
In my last two years of seminary, I was assigned as a seminarian and later as a transitional Deacon at Ascension Catholic Church in Montbello close to the airport. There, I was given the amazing opportunity to pray with and minister to a group from the parish. The group focused on grieving after the death of a loved one. I came to know a lot of people from that group and grew very close to some of them. A certain family from the group was and continues to be heavily involved in the parish. I came to know them very well. They would oftentimes give testimony of their life and how the Lord brought them to an authentic encounter with Him and His love. It all began when their oldest son was killed in a shooting outside his home. This tragic event led to big conversion in the family, but in particular for the mom. It was fascinating hearing how she forgave those who killed her son and even wrote to them while they were in prison. She was devastated when she later found out that those who killed her son died in prison. It was incredible to see the effect that the love and mercy of God has in the life of someone. This love and mercy is a reflection of what we see today in the Gospel.
In today's Gospel, our Lord tells us the parable of the prodigal son. A son asks his father for his inheritance and goes off to a foreign land where he spends it all. There is a famine in the land. With nothing to survive off of, the son finds himself working with pigs and even desiring to eat what the pigs eat. He recognizes his misery and chooses to go back to his father's house. The father receives him with great joy and even exalts him to a higher dignity than before. Meanwhile, the older son, who was always faithful to the father, becomes enraged at this and refuses to rejoice at the return of his brother. This parable gives us an understanding of our relationship with God and how his love and mercy is beyond our own ignorance and sin.
Some commentaries on this parable suggest that the prodigal son, upon asking for his inheritance while the father was still alive, wished for his father to die since an inheritance is given at the death of the parent. We see the gravity of the son's desires and his choices. But we also see the consequences of those choices. He finds himself in a distant land with nothing. Upon looking at himself, how miserable he is, he desires to go back to the father's house where even the cattle have more than enough to eat. Our experience with sin is the same. Our sins, even if small, are always an offense to God and they damage our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Like the prodigal son, we can find ourselves wanting what we think will be best but this is never the case. We try to find happiness in the things and places where God isn't present. We always find ourselves in the misery of our sins and our evil choices. But it is even more terrible that at times we think we are comfortable in our misery. Nevertheless, we should take the example of the prodigal son and think of how abundantly good the Father's house is. When the prodigal son reaches the father's house, he is received with love and mercy. He is clothed with the best clothes and is given a ring by the father. The ring in ancient times gave authority to “sign” or seal legal documents on behalf of someone powerful. The prodigal son was even given the authority of the father over his possessions! Only in God can we find true happiness, true goodness and true fulfillment. During this time of lent, we have the opportunity to experience a true conversion and approach the sacrament of confession. Confession gives us the opportunity to return to the Father's house. Like the prodigal son, we are given a higher dignity, we clothed anew with Christ, and we are received as sons and daughters of the Father. Now is the time to seek forgiveness from God and to forgive those who trespass against us. If it has been a long time since we last confessed our sins, the time is now to do so. Here at Presentation of Our Lady, we are very fortunate to have confessions every day of the week (except for Sundays). I encourage you, my dear brothers and sisters, to seek the love and mercy of God in this great sacrament.
-Fr. Miguel Mendoza
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