Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures, of the great love and mercy of God which He has willingly shown to us, through His compassion and the desire which He has for us, in leading us all into the path towards our reconciliation with Him. All of us as Christians are reminded that God, our ever loving Father and Creator has always been full of mercy towards us, full of compassion and love, ever kind and ever committed to the Covenant which He has made with us all, His beloved children and people, who have often erred against Him, disobeying His Law and commandments, refusing to walk in the path that He has shown us. And yet, God is still willing to embrace us all with the love of a loving Father, while chastising us for our sins, with the ultimate aim and goal to be reconciled with us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Micah in which the prophet Micah spoke to God on behalf of the people of Israel, the people of God, asking and beseeching God to shepherd and guide them all as He has always done in the days and years past, reminding the people at the same time of the great love and mercy that God has shown to His people throughout history, as He cared for them when they were in trouble, protecting them all from their enemies and guiding them through the right path, showing them all His power and glory, fulfilling all those things that He has promised them, and making the path before them smooth. God has done all these to His people out of His great love and compassion towards them, wanting them to live worthily in His path, so that they might be reunited with Him and be found worthy of Him.

At that time, during the time of the ministry of the prophet Micah which happened during the later parts of the history of the kingdom of Judah, many among the people of God in Judah had not obeyed the Law and commandments of God, preferring to follow their own paths and preferences in life. As such, God has warned them all that should they continue in their rebellious attitude, then in the end, they will be judged by their wicked and dishonourable actions that had kept them all away from the path of righteousness. And yet, at the same time, God also reassured His people that He truly loved all of them, and should they seek Him for His mercy and forgiveness, repenting their wicked and wayward paths, then He would willingly welcome them all back to His holy and loving Presence. It all ultimately depended on what the people would choose to do with their lives.

Essentially, we are all reminded that we have the freedom to choose our path in life, whether we want to continue to live our lives in disobedience of God and His ways, or whether we want to return to Him, asking and begging for Him to forgive us all our trespasses, mistakes and faults. And this is what we are being reminded again through our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist. In that Gospel passage, we heard the famous parable of the prodigal son, detailing to us the story of the younger of two sons of a rich man who sought his part of the inheritance early on, and when he was given the inheritance, he went away on a journey to distant lands where he spent all of his inheritance, money and possessions on wayward living and hedonistic lifestyle with his friends and others around him.

In this very well-known parable, we heard of how the prodigal younger son eventually realised his mistake and foolishness when he had run out of his money, wealth and inheritance, and all of his so-called friends and all those who were around him disappeared and left him when he had nothing else left on him. He tried to survive for a while in a very despondent state, working in a pig farm, and as we heard, no one would give him even the pig food to eat. That was when the prodigal younger son realised and decided to return back to his father, to beg him to make him one of his servants instead, as he could choose to remain there in the distant lands and die of hunger, or to swallow his pride and seek the father’s mercy and forgiveness instead, and remain alive, as those servants of his father were all living in plenty and happiness.

Through this parable, the Lord wanted to show us all the love that He has for each and every one of us, the constant and persistent love and compassionate care which He has given generously to us, with the father in the story representing the Lord Himself, the elder son being those who have followed the commandments of the Lord and His Law, and was also in a way a representation of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law at that time, while the prodigal younger son represents those sinners who have decided to come back to the Lord, seeking the mercy of their Heavenly Father just like the prodigal son seeking the reconciliation with his father after having committed such a grievous mistake and error of living in debauchery and squandering his inheritance.

We heard of how the father in the parable was so joyful upon hearing that his younger son has finally returned to him, that he had returned despite probably being thought of having been lost or dead. And thus, the father threw a great feast and celebration to welcome his return, only for the elder brother to be angered by such a reception. And we heard the Lord Himself explaining how what happened to the prodigal son is something that we ourselves ought to be experiencing in our own lives. This is because each and every one of us are also sinners who are seeking God’s forgiveness and mercy. And through the figure of the elder brother, the Lord was also criticising the actions of those Pharisees and teachers of the Law who often prided themselves for their righteousness and being biased, judgmental and prejudiced against their own fellow brothers and sisters.

This means that those people behaved just like the elder brother who thought that he was more worthy of the father’s love just because he seemed to be the more righteous one and the one who had been by the side of the father all the while. But the father’s love is given to both of his sons equally, and both of them were equally precious to him, just as the Lord loves each and every one of us equally, all His beloved children, though sinners. Even the greatest sinners, should they be willing to embrace God’s mercy and forgiveness, will be given the fullness of His grace and kindness. And this is why we should never lose hope in the mercy, compassion and kindness of God. If we allow ourselves to be misguided in thinking that we are unworthy of God’s love, or if we are too proud to admit that we are sinners in need of healing, then we will never receive the forgiveness of God.

That prodigal, younger son could have perished in the distant lands, all alone and in poverty if he did not swallow his pride and chose to be humble, begging and seeking his father’s forgiveness and mercy. It was his conscious choice to return to his father with a regretful and contrite heart that the prodigal son has been forgiven and received once again the fullness of the father’s generous love. Therefore, in the same manner, all of us, who are sinners, will receive the fullness of the Lord, our Heavenly Father’s most generous love and kindness, mercy and compassion if we choose to obey Him and come back to Him with sorrowful and repentant hearts. Are we then willing to make the commitment to this path, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing to acknowledge our sinfulness and our imperfections, flaws and mistakes that had kept us away from God?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to journey through this blessed time and opportunity this Lenten season, let us all realise how fortunate we are to have been given such a wonderful opportunity for reconciliation with our loving God and Father, and make good use of the great opportunity given to us to seek His love and mercy once again. Let us all not harden our hearts and close our minds anymore to Him, but do our best instead to glorify Him by our lives, by our humble obedience and desire to be forgiven and to be fully loved again by God, our loving Father, Who loves each and every one of us equally without exception. And as those who have received this faith and blessing from God, we, as the elder children, should also be welcoming to our fellow brethren, especially all those who have not known God and His mercy, reaching out to them and sharing God’s love with them instead of judging them and being prejudiced against them, or being jealous of God’s love and mercy which have been shown to them too.

May the Lord, our heavenly and most loving and compassionate Father continue to bless each and every one of us, and bless our Lenten journey and observance, our practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving among others. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.