FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR C.
27th March 2022
Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3,11-32.
On this Laetare Sunday that we celebrate our mothers, the gospel tells us of the depth of God’s love and mercy. The parable of the prodigal is a demonstration of the heart of God, our loving Father. The love of God overshadows our wastefulness and indignation. This is what St. Paul meant in his letter to the Romans that God loved us while we were still sinners. God’s love is interested in searching us out of our waywardness and transforming our minds towards positive thinking. His love takes the initiative towards reconciliation. According to the gospel, while the younger son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.
The question we ask ourselves today is this: why do we find it difficult to approach such a loving Father in the sacrament of reconciliation? This sacrament is the most undermined sacrament in the church today. We are losing the sense of sin. This sacrament gives us the opportunity to confess our love for God and our faith in God. The younger son at his return said to his father: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” Pope Francis reminds us that God is not tired of forgiving sin, we are just tired of asking for forgiveness. A practical experience of the love of God is found in the confessional. Let us remind ourselves today that the depth of God’s love and mercy is profound and everlasting.
Fr Anthony Ekpunobi, CM.
