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The center
of the readings is the parable of the Prodigal Son, which certainly could be
called the parable of the Good Father .
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This
father is the Father in Heaven, the Father that Jesus wants to share with us,
as he said the day of his resurrection “my Father and your Father…”
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Let us see
the message that the readings give to us.
FIRST READING Jos 5:9-12
·
The book
of Josuah is the first book of the Bible after the Pentateuch. The people of Israel that has arrived to the
Promise Land will have to adapt his life to the new situation.
·
They had
been nomads that journeyed through the desert to the land promised to their
Fathers.
·
Now they
will have to adapt new forms of life, they will have to learn how to cultivate
the soil, they will be farmers.
·
They will
have also to adapt the way they worship.
·
What do
the readings say to us?
o
God
reminds them that He is the one who has liberated them, that has taken away the
shame they suffered being slaves in Egypt
o
Now they
are in the land and they will celebrate for the first time the Passover in the
land.
o
This same
day the manna disappear, from now on they will have to provide by themselves
cultivating the land which will provide what they need.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 34
TASTE AND SEE THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD
I will bless the Lord at all times
His praise shall be ever in my mouth
Let my soul glory in the Lord
The lowly will hear and be glad
Glorify the Lord with me
Let us together extol his name
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy
And your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the Lord heard
And from all his distress eh saved him
SECOND READING 2 Cor 5,17-21
Ø
Paul
speaks to his community of Corinth about the newness of those who are in
Christ.
Ø
We began
to be in Christ when we were baptized, when we became new creatures.
Ø
He also
reminds them that whatever is old has passed away, it does not exist anymore.
Ø
He says
that all of this was possible through the loving initiative of God in Christ
that reconciled us with the Father.
Ø
And this
reconciliation that Christ made on the cross, he has given it to us, to the
Church, so that we might become ministers of reconciliation in the world.
Ø
As
ministers of reconciliation we need to say to our brothers “be reconciled to
God.”
Ø
For our
sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him, that is be holy.
GOSPEL Lk 15:1-3.11-32
Verses 1
to 3 provide the setting
for this wonderful story, parable.
o
Jesus is
surrounded by “sinners” = tax collectors and others.
o
The
Pharesees are there also, but they are not there with the same intention as the
sinners. They are there to judge what Jesus is doing, Jesus who welcomes those
whom they considered “lost.”
o
Jesus in
response to those feelings which they have in their hearts tells them and us
this wonderful parable. In all of us we find the “sinner” and the “Pharisee
that judges.”
o
The
parable of the Prodigal Son which should be called the Parable of the Good
Father.
o
This
parable has different scenes which we are going to contemplate one by one.
o
The first
one: the younger son asks for his inheritance and goes away home:
§
Give me my
inheritance! This is an insolent
petition. The inheritance is received after the death of the person who leaves
it.
§
The father
does not argue, he divides his possession between the two sons he has.
§
The younger
son goes away from home to a far distant country. Distant country means a place far from home,
from all that is familiar, from the love of his father. The reality is that he
has always been far from home even living in it. His heart has always been far
from the love of his father.
§
Here ends
the first scene.
o
The second
scene: the younger son in the foreign country and the father who waits for him.
§
What does
the son do in the far away country? What does the father do at home?
§
The son
expends all his possessions in a dissolute life, while he has money he has a
lot of friends.
§
The father
at home goes to the road every day to
see if the son returns. He wants to see his son even knowing that the son does
not love him.
§
The son is
out of money and loses all his friends. He feels lonely, hungry and humiliated.
He feels so low and so hungry that he goes to work feeding pigs. A profession
that a Jew will never have, pigs are impure animals. In this situation he comes back to his senses
and decides to do something: “I will go back….”
§
The father
keeps going to the road ….
o
The third
scene is the return home of the younger son
§
The father
who goes every day to the road to see him returning, recognizes him from afar
and runs to meet him.
§
The son
says to his father the words he has prepared “I have sinned… I am nor worthy…
acept me as one of your workers…”
§
The father
does not allow him to finish. Quickly bring the tunic, the sandals, the ring… let
us celebrate.
§
Why? Because this son was lost and has been found,
was dead and has come back to life.
§
The
celebration begins, the father is filled with joy.
o
Last scene – the elder brother
§
He comes back from the fields
where he has been working all day long. He hears the voices of joy, the
music, the laughter… What is this? Because sin “his son left in this house
there has been only sadness.
§
Your brother has come back,
and your father is so happy to have recovered him in good health that he has
kille the fatted calf and has called for a celebration.
§
The elder son is angry, he
does not want to join the celebration. The father comes our and begs him to enter, to
rejoice because his brother was dead and is alive, was lost and has been
found. “Everything that I have is yours
my son. You are always with me.”
§
We do not know If he joined
the celebration, Jesus leaves us in suspense. Maybe because we are the ones who
have to finish the story, we are at the
same time the younger son who sins because joyfully and the elder who sins judging
and being sad. We are at the same time like the “tax collector” and the
“Pharisee.”
§
I read once a book by Henri
Nouwen and he said that a friend told him to forget about being the elder or
the younger son, and trying to be like the Father full of love, mercy and joy
CLARETIAN CORNER
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