great feast

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Monday, 29 February 2016 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 4 : 24-30

At that time, Jesus said to the people of Nazareth in the synagogue, “No prophet is honoured in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land.”

“Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet, and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.”

On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought Him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw Him down the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went His way.

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Monday, 29 February 2016 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 41 : 2, 3 and Psalm 42 : 3, 4

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, o God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?

Send forth Your light and Your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.

Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre and harp. O God, my God.

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Monday, 29 February 2016 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

2 Kings 5 : 1-15a

Naaman was the army commander of the king of Aram. This man was highly regarded and enjoyed the king’s favour, for YHVH had helped him lead the army of the Arameans to victory. But this valiant man was sick with leprosy.

One day some Aramean soldiers raided the land of Israel and took a young girl captive who became a servant to the wife of Naaman. She said to her mistress, “If my master would only present himself to the prophet in Samaria, he would surely cure him of his leprosy.”

Naaman went to tell the king what the young Israelite maidservant had said. The king of Aram said to him, “Go to the prophet, and I shall also send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman went and took with him ten gold bars, six thousand pieces of silver and ten festal garments.

On his arrival, he delivered the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “I present my servant Naaman to you that you may heal him of his leprosy.” When the king had read the letter, he tore his clothes to show his indignation, “I am not God to give life or death. And the king of Aram sends me this man to be healed! You see he is just looking for an excuse for war.”

Elisha, the man of God, came to know that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, so he sent this message to him : “Why have you torn your clothes? Let the man come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stopped before the house of Elisha. Elisha then sent a messenger to tell him, “Go to the river Jordan and wash seven times, and your flesh shall be as it was before, and you shall be cleansed.”

Naaman was angry, so he went away. He thought : “On my arrival, he should have personally come out, and then paused and called on the Name of YHVH, his God. And he should have touched with his hand the infected part, and I would have been healed. Are the rivers of Damascus, Abana and Pharpar not better than all the rivers of the land of Israel? Could I not wash there to be healed?”

His servants approached him and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had ordered you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? But how much easier when he said : Take a bath and you will be cleansed.” So Naaman went down to the Jordan where he washed himself seven times as Elisha had ordered. His skin became soft like that of a child and he was cleansed.

Then Naaman returned to the man of God with all his men.

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Sunday, 28 February 2016 : Third Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings, we see the encounter that happened between mankind and God, between sinners and their Creator Who loved them, and Who desired to save them and bring them from the slavery of sin into the liberty and freedom that He wants to bring to them, and we see how we are also part of this great works of the Lord to bring salvation to all mankind.

God does not abandon us to die or to be destroyed, even though our sins and wickedness can indeed be very great. Many of us, just like the people of Israel whom God Himself had saved from their enslavement in Egypt, had been rebellious, disobedient and unwilling to listen or to commit ourselves to the ways of our Lord. And thus, as a result, our sins grew and we grew more distant from our Lord.

The Scripture readings today from the Book of Deuteronomy spoke of the uncertainty, the doubt and the lack of faith in the hearts of the people of God, who questioned His love and dedication for them, and who refused to see the light and refused to accept and understand that God had given them so much, so many things and blessings, and yet they were still not satisfied.

God gave them freedom from the scourge and yoke of slavery, lifting up from them the yoke and chains of the Pharaohs, that they would no longer suffer in the lands of Egypt, and that they would no longer toil in harsh labour, but be freed and He led them to the lands which He Himself had promised to their ancestors, and which promise He also renewed with them Himself, as He renewed the covenant He had with them.

And He destroyed their enemies and pursuers, their oppressors and all things wicked before them. He crushed the Pharaoh and his chariots, drowning them in the Red Sea, and He destroyed the Amalekites and the other enemies of the people of God, giving them victory and triumph. He guided them through the desert for many long years, leading them on the way and providing for them with none other than the food from heaven.

He blessed them with the manna, the bread of the Angels, and gave them many large birds and other foods to eat in the midst of the lifeless desert. He gave them clear and sweet spring water from the rocks in the middle of a very dry and parched desert, that all of them would have their fill and be satisfied. They all had what they needed, and no one lacked anything.

But they were not content and neither were they satisfied. They grumbled and complained against God for having brought them into the desert while they could have enjoyed a ‘better’ life in Egypt even though they would be enslaved. They rebelled against God, because they had no true love or commitment for their Lord, and their stomachs and hearts’ desires got the better of them.

How is this relevant to us, brethren? It is just as we ourselves also prefer sin to doing the will of God. We refuse to listen to God and do what He has asked us to do. Instead, we preferred to walk on our own path, because we see them as better, more enticing and less troublesome or risky. But this is all because it was the intention of the devil and all of his wicked forces, trying to lure us all into damnation by tempting us to do all those vile things.

And yet, even though we often failed to follow His will and even though we have committed so much wickedness throughout our lives, not listening to God and His words, but the love which He had for us was truly very great indeed, for He still offered us His salvation, His mercy and His love despite the fact that we were still sinners. St. Paul pointed out this fact for us, so that we may realise this and come to sincere and genuine repentance.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this season of Lent, we have all been called to cease our rebelliousness and to cast aside our pride, our hubris, greed and desire, all of which had led us deeper and deeper into disobedience and sin against the Lord our God. This is the perfect time to begin our lives anew, to turn our backs against the past, that is our past sins and vile deeds.

All of us have been called to the mercy and forgiveness of God, and God had made it clear that those who are willing to repent shall be accepted and received in God’s eternal kingdom. But we first have to learn to restrain ourselves and to die to our pride and hubris, our greed and desires, and this is why we fast and abstain during this period of Lent. Thus, when we fast and abstain, let us all do them with proper understanding of their purpose, so that they may benefit us ever more for our salvation.

Let us all recommit ourselves anew to the Lord, that by our words, deeds and actions, we may show Him and the world all the same, that we are willing to live in accordance to our faith, and no longer adhering or being corrupted by this world’s desires and sins, but instead are committed to be good disciples and followers of our Lord from now on.

May Almighty God guide our paths, and may He strengthen the resolve in our hearts, so that we may strive always to live faithfully in accordance with His will and thus be worthy of the salvation and eternal life which He had promised us all. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 28 February 2016 : Third Sunday of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 13 : 1-9

At that time, some people told Jesus what had occurred in the Temple : Pilate had had Galileans killed, and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.

Jesus asked them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this? No, I tell you. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did.”

“And those eighteen persons in Siloah, who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you : no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did.”

And Jesus continued with this story, “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener, ‘Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree, and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it use up the ground?'”

“The gardener replied, ‘Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertiliser; perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it does not, you can cut it down.'”

Alternative reading (from Readings of Year A)

John 4 : 5-42

At that time, Jesus came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well is there. Tired from his journey, Jesus sat down by the well; it was about noon. Now a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” His disciples had just gone into town to buy some food.

The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan and a woman, for a drink?” (For Jews, in fact, have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift of God! If you knew Who it is, Who is asking you for a drink, you yourself would have asked Me, and I would have given you living water.”

The woman answered, “Sir, You have no bucket, and this well is deep; where is Your living water? Are You greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, together with his sons and his cattle?”

Jesus said to her, “Those who drink of this water will be thirsty again; but those, who drink of the water that I shall give, will never be thirsty; for the water, that I shall give, will become in them a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to Him, “Give me this water, that I may never be thirsty, and never have to come here to draw water.” Jesus said, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.” The woman answered, “I have no husband.” And Jesus replied, “You are right to say, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you said is true.”

The woman then said to Him, “I see You are a Prophet; tell me this : Our ancestors came to this mountain to worship God; but you Jews, do you not claim that Jerusalem is the only place to worship God?” Jesus said to her, “Believe Me, woman, the hour is coming when you shall worship the Father, but that will not be on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”

“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is even now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for that is the kind of worshippers the Father wants. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit, and truth.”

The woman said to Him, “I know that the Messiah (that is the Christ) is coming. When He comes, He will tell us everything.” And Jesus said, “I Who am talking to you, I am He.” At this point the disciples returned, and were surprised that Jesus was speaking with a woman; however, no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

So the woman left her water jar and ran to the town. There she said to the people, “Come and see a Man Who told me everything I did! Could He not be the Christ? So they left the town and went to meet Him. In the meantime the disciples urged Jesus, “Master, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

And the disciples wondered, “Has anyone brought Him food?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the One Who sent Me, and to carry out His work. You say that in four months there will be the harvest; now, I say to you, look up and see the fields white and ready for harvesting.”

People who reap the harvest are paid for their work, and the fruit is gathered for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. Indeed the saying holds true : One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap where you did not work or suffer; others have worked, and you are now sharing in their labours.”

In that town many Samaritans believed in Him when they heard the woman who declared, “He told me everything I did.” So, when they came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days. After that, many more believed because of His own words, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is the Saviour of the world.”

Alternative reading (shorter version of Readings of Year A)

John 4 : 5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

At that time, Jesus came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well is there. Tired from his journey, Jesus sat down by the well; it was about noon. Now a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” His disciples had just gone into town to buy some food.

The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan and a woman, for a drink?” (For Jews, in fact, have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift of God! If you knew Who it is, Who is asking you for a drink, you yourself would have asked Me, and I would have given you living water.”

The woman answered, “Sir, You have no bucket, and this well is deep; where is Your living water? Are You greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, together with his sons and his cattle?”

Jesus said to her, “Those who drink of this water will be thirsty again; but those, who drink of the water that I shall give, will never be thirsty; for the water, that I shall give, will become in them a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to Him, “Give me this water, that I may never be thirsty, and never have to come here to draw water. I see You are a Prophet; tell me this : Our ancestors came to this mountain to worship God; but you Jews, do you not claim that Jerusalem is the only place to worship God?” Jesus said to her, “Believe Me, woman, the hour is coming when you shall worship the Father, but that will not be on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”

“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is even now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for that is the kind of worshippers the Father wants. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit, and truth.”

The woman said to Him, “I know that the Messiah (that is the Christ) is coming. When He comes, He will tell us everything.” And Jesus said, “I Who am talking to you, I am He.”

In that town many Samaritans believed in Him. So, when they came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days. After that, many more believed because of His own words, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is the Saviour of the world.”

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Sunday, 28 February 2016 : Third Sunday of Lent (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

1 Corinthians 10 : 1-6, 10-12

Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, about our ancestors. All of them were under the cloud and all crossed the sea. All underwent the baptism of the land and of the sea to join Moses and all of them ate from the same spiritual manna and all of them drank from the same spiritual drink.

For you know that they drank from a spiritual rock following them, and the rock was Christ. However, most of them did not please God, and the desert was strewn with their bodies. All of this happened as an example for us, so that we might not become people of evil desires, as they did.

Nor should we grumble as some of them did and were cut down by the destroying Angel. These things happened to them as an example, and they were written as a warning for us, as the last times come upon us. Therefore, if you think you stand, beware, lest you fail.

Alternative reading (from Readings of Year A)

Romans 5 : 1-2, 5-8

By faith we have received true righteousness, and we are at peace with God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Through Him we obtain this favour in which we remain and we even boast to expect the Glory of God.

And hope does not disappoint us because the Holy Spirit has been given to us, pouring into our hearts the love of God. Consider, moreover, the time that Christ died for us : when we were still helpless and unable to do anything. Few would accept to die for an upright person; although, for a very good person, perhaps someone would dare to die.

But see how God manifested His love for us : while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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Sunday, 28 February 2016 : Third Sunday of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8 and 11

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His Holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.

The Lord restores justice and secures the rights of the oppressed. He has made known His ways to Moses and His deeds to the people of Israel.

The Lord is gracious and merciful, abounding in love and slow to anger. As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him.

Alternative reading (from Readings of Year A)

Psalm 94 : 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful sound to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him giving thanks, with music and songs of praise.

Come and worship; let us bow down, kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He is our God, and we His people; the flock He leads and pastures. Would that today you heard His voice!

Do not be stubborn, as at Meribah, in the desert, on that day at Massah, when your ancestors challenged me, and they put Me to the test.

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Sunday, 28 February 2016 : Third Sunday of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Exodus 3 : 1-8a, 13-15

Moses pastured the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. One day he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God. The Angel of YHVH appeared to him by means of a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that although the bush was on fire it did not burn up. Moses thought, “I will go and see this amazing sight, why is the bush not burning up?”

YHVH saw that Moses was drawing near to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He replied, “Here I am.” YHVH said to him, “Do not come near; take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

And God continued, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face lest his eyes look on God. YHVH said, “I have seen the humiliation of Mu people in Egypt and I hear their cry when they are cruelly treated by their taskmasters. I know their suffering. I have come down to free them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a beautiful spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Moses answered God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them : ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ they will ask me : ‘What is His Name?’ What shall I answer them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO AM. This is what you will say to the sons of Israel : ‘I AM sent me to you.” God then said to Moses, “You will say to the Israelites : ‘YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me.’ That will be My Name forever, and by this Name they shall call upon Me for all generations to come.”

Alternative reading (from Readings of Year A)

Exodus 17 : 3-7

But the people thirsted for water there and grumbled against Moses, “Why did you make us leave Egypt to have us die of thirst with our children and our cattle?” So Moses cried to YHVH, “What shall I do with the people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

YHVH said to Moses, “Go ahead of the people and take with you the elders of Israel. Take with you the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you on the rock at Horeb. You will strike the rock and water will flow from it and the people will drink.”

Moses did this in the presence of the elders of Israel. The place was called Massah and Meribah because of the complaints of the Israelites, who tested YHVH saying, “Is YHVH with us or not?”

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Saturday, 27 February 2016 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the familiar story of the prodigal son, who went away from his father to live in sin and wickedness, and then who returned to his father in shame and in humility, begging for mercy and to be forgiven, and the father accepted him back with great joy and gladness, celebrating how the lost prodigal son had been found and had returned to him in safety.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we heard today in the Gospel and in the other readings have just summarised the entire meaning of our observations of the rules and customs of the season of Lent which we are in the midst of at this moment. We are the prodigal sons, and we are those who have gone astray in our path towards God, our Lord and Father, Who is filled with love and mercy for our fate, and Who wants us all to be redeemed through Him.

Through our sins and our disobedience against God, even no matter how small it was, we have been sundered and separated from the fullness of God’s love. We have to realise, brethren, that while God loves us, but no sin and wickedness can remain in His presence and go unaccounted for. If we sin and do not repent, we will have no part in Him. It is the same desire for sinning that is also the same desire causing the younger, the prodigal son to choose to go away from his father, carrying all of his wealth and inheritance with him.

In the same way therefore, all of us have been given by God, the free will to choose how we are to live our own lives. Thus, we can indeed choose to be like the prodigal son, and leave behind our Father, that is God, and all of His ways and instead following our own will and desires. Therefore this means we give in to sins and to the wicked ways of the world. The path will indeed seem to be easier, and all the allures of the world, the pleasures and happiness we encounter will persuade us to go and dwell in deeper into that path.

But after all of them ended, what will we get in the end? The story of the prodigal son told to us how after the prodigal son spent all of his wealth and squandered all of them in a life of hedonism and sin, he was truly left with nothing, and he could not even afford to eat a proper food, since he had nothing left with him. And when he tried to work at a pig farm and eat the same food that the pigs were eating, nobody allowed him to do so.

In that scenario, he became even less than a pig, an animal considered unclean at the time of Jesus by the Israelites, and therefore, he was treated as a nobody. And indeed, it is going to be the same with us, once we exhausted our time enjoying all the false happiness and joy, all the pleasures that the world is offering and giving to us. We would have nothing but desolation and destruction, and doom is upon us without hope of succour or redemption if it is too late for us.

That is also the same feeling whenever we come to realise how sinful we have become, how wicked were the things that we had done, and how great was the extent of our sins. And the danger here is that we fear, and we are afraid to retrace our steps and come back to the Lord, because we are afraid that He will be angry with us because of our disobedience.

And thus, this is why many people were not able to repent and change their ways. They are afraid that God will punish them and rebuke them. But the reality is that it is better for us to be rebuked by God rather than for us to be lost forever to the darkness. That is why, we have to take note of the resolve of the prodigal son to return to his father despite all the things he had committed.

Shall we therefore also seek to return to our Lord with a heart filled with regret and sorrow, the desire for the forgiveness of our sins? Shall we commit ourselves to a life of repentance and be forgiven for our trespasses? This is the best time for us to do so, to be like the prodigal son who regretted his sin, and resolved to return to his father seeking forgiveness.

And then, let us also not forget that, heeding the example of the elder son, it is important that we also take note the lesson from there. The elder son represented the actions of those who have been made righteous, but then they succumbed to their sense of selfishness and jealousy, and they resented the love that God gave to sinners and all those who had erred in their path, and yet forgiven by God when they repented.

We should not resent those who have yet to be saved and still living in darkness, or be disgusted at them for their sins. Remember, we ourselves were once like them, sinners and delinquents, rebels in the sight and presence of God. Condemning or being disgusted at others who have sinned, or still living in the state of sin is just like being disgusted at ourselves.

If all that we can do is just to condemn others, to be disgusted at what we ourselves had once done ourselves, and then doing nothing to help these people, then we are truly responsible for their downfall on the day of judgment. Do not think that if we do not do anything wrong or wicked, then we are certainly safe and immune from being judged, as we have to remember, that failing to do good while we are perfectly capable of doing so, is just as bad as doing something that is bad and wicked.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, in this holy season of Lent, let us make best use of the time available to us, in order to change our ways and dedicate ourselves to help one another to find our ways to the Lord. Let us no longer be apathetic or indifferent to the sufferings of others, especially those who are still trapped in the darkness of this world.

May Almighty God, our Lord and Father, awaken in us all the love which we all ought to have for Him, and may He bless us with the hope and the strength with which all of us may persevere in our path towards Him, that resisting and rejecting all forms of sin, we may always seek to be faithful to Him in all things. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 27 February 2016 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 15 : 1-3, 11-32

At that time, tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what He had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering, “This Man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them this parable :

“There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Give me a share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them. Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started off for a distant land, where he squandered his wealth in loose living.”

“Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land. So he hired himself out to a well-to-do citizen of that place, and was sent to work on a pig farm. So famished was he, that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything.”

“Finally coming to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against God, and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me then as one of your hired servants.’ With that thought in mind, he set off for his father’s house.”

“He was still a long way off, when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.'”

“But the father turned to his servants : ‘Quick!’ He said. ‘Bring out the finest robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Take the fattened calf and kill it! We shall celebrate and have a feast, for this son of mine was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found!’ And the celebration began.”

“Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and approached the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what it was all about. The servant answered, ‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration, and killed the fattened calf.'”

“The elder son became angry, and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. The son, very indignant, said, ‘Look, I have slaved for you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders. Yet you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. Then when this son of yours returns, after squandering your property with loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him.'”

“The father said, ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.'”