Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, and as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the great mercy and compassion which God has always shown us all, His beloved people. God is our Father Who has always been loving towards each and every one of us, despite our rebelliousness and refusals to obey His commandments and Law, and despite our stubborn attitudes, to which He has always shown patience and kindness, in His great perseverance in reaching out to all of us His people, to lead us all patiently back towards Him and to embrace us all once again with His ever generous and infinite love.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Micah, we heard of the words of the Lord as passed through the prophet Micah to the people of God in the southern kingdom of Judah, to which the prophet had been ministering in, in calling all those people to repentance from their sins and wickedness. For the context, like their northern neighbours, those living in the kingdom of Israel, which kingdom had been recently destroyed by the Assyrians, the people of Judah had also disobeyed the Lord and committed sins against Him through their worship of pagan idols and gods, and their stubborn attitudes in refusing to listen to the words of the prophets who had been sent to them to remind them.

And yet, as we have heard from the prophet Micah, God is truly a loving and forgiving God, Who like a Shepherd and loving Father, has always wanted nothing but the best for His beloved ones, His people, the Israelites, who had erred and fallen away from their paths, and seeking for all of them to return to Him with contrite and sorrowful hearts, regretting their sins and mistakes. As the loving Father and Shepherd of the people of God, Micah was also praying to Him asking for the Lord to show mercy and compassion on His beloved people, that despite of their sins and wickedness, He would still forgive them and help them out, just as how He has helped them out and provided for them all from their time of the Exodus from Egypt, before that and henceforth, throughout all history.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the famous parable of the prodigal son, in which we heard the story of the prodigal and rebellious younger son of a rich father, who had two sons. That younger son chose to take the portion of his inheritance and leave his family behind, to enjoy a hedonistic and wicked lifestyle in distant, foreign lands, and eventually as we all know, that prodigal son ran out of money and possessions, and ended up as a penniless man in that distant and foreign country, with no one to care for him, and with all of his former friends and associates caring only about the wealth and possessions that he had, and not truly loving him, unlike his father back at home, whom the prodigal son had chosen to leave behind.

We heard how the prodigal son returned to the father with shame and humility, humbling himself and begging himself to be taken back to his house, even if he were to be like one of the servants, as he told his own father that he no longer deserved to call him as his father for everything that he had done. Yet, the father welcomed back the prodigal, rebellious and wicked younger son with great pomp, as he has found him once again, and he saw how this son had repented and regretted his past sins and faults, and hence, by coming back all the way to him, instead of staying on in that distant lands, that son had once again gained the favour of the father, and there was indeed a great joy as the prodigal son was once again part of the father’s family, and this represents just the way that all of us should act in reaching out to God, our most loving Father, Creator and Master.

First of all, just as the prodigal son had a choice of staying on in the distant lands instead of humbling himself and swallowing his pride to return to his home, thus, we also have the option to remain stubborn in our path and way of sin, instead of humbling ourselves to seek God’s forgiveness and compassionate mercy. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why pride is such a dangerous thing for us, as pride often becomes a great obstacle in our path of seeking God’s forgiveness and grace. Pride has led so many people to their downfall, including Satan himself, and many other of our predecessors, as pride led us to separate ourselves from the love of God, and often prevented us to admit that we have been wrong and are in need of healing and forgiveness from God. Many people steadfastly continued to walk in their wrong paths because they rejected the fact that they were in need of help from God.

Then, if we heard and recalled the action of the elder son, who was angry at the father for welcoming the younger son back, it is also a reminder to all of us not to be judgmental on others just because we think that we are better than them. Like the actions of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law back then during the time of the Lord Jesus, who often thought of themselves as holier and better than everyone else, condemning and being judgmental on those whom they deemed as sinners, unworthy and hopeless in their path towards God, they had closed the door of God’s mercy and kindness to so many of these people whom they could have helped if not for their own pride and arrogance. Again, here we can see how pride can even be the downfall of the righteous, if we allow pride to take over our actions and judgments in life.

Today, we all can also be inspired and strengthened by the good examples set by our holy predecessors, the holy martyrs and saints, St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, who were renowned martyrs of the Church, honoured and venerated for their righteousness, holiness and dedication to God, even in the face of suffering and martyrdom. According to the Church traditions and hagiography, St. Perpetua was a young noblewoman who was recently married and was a mother to a young infant son, while St. Felicity was a slave who were arrested with St. Perpetua for their Christian faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. It was told that this happened because St. Perpetua had a conflict with her father because he wanted her to abandon her Christian faith, and St. Perpetua refused to do so. It was likely that St. Perpetua met with St. Felicity and other fellow martyrs in prison, and they all endured the trials and hardships, resisting the temptations and pressures to abandon their faith in God.

The courage and dedication that those martyrs showed us all ought to remind us of the love and commitment that we ourselves ought to have for the Lord, and we are all reminded of how many of our predecessors have given their lives for the sake of the Lord. Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect upon the story of the repentant prodigal son which we heard earlier on, and also the reminders of God’s love and mercy which He has generously provided us, let us all walk in great faith and trust in the Lord, in His mercy and compassion following the examples of the saints, like those of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity among others. May the Lord be with us always in our journey of faith and life, and help us to be good and worthy role models for another, now and always. Amen.