4TH SUNDAY OF LENT: 10.03.2013
The call to CELEBRATE...a three point line of action!
Step 1: REALISE WHO YOU ARE
O Christian! realise your dignity!
The son returned to his senses and realised who he was.
Step 2: RETURN TO THE LOVE OF GOD
Decide to come back to God!
the sacrament of reconciliation is the sweet embrace of the Lord!
Step 3: REJOICE IN THE LORD
That is the essence of Christian Life, to Rejoice!
Rejoice in the Lord, again i say, Rejoice! Celebrate Life!
My reflection for this Sunday
Rejoice O Jerusalem and
all who love her rejoice! Right at the entrance antiphon, the Liturgy today
makes its central theme crystal clear – The call to Rejoice…the call to
Celebrate, because we have the opportunity of returning to the Father’s house,
to the Mother’s heart of the Lord, to the embrace of forgiveness that God
wishes to offer each one of us! And Jesus narrates a beautiful story today, a
parable par excellence that speaks to us of that house, that heart and that
embrace.
Our life of faith has to
be a celebration, a perennial joy, a loving experience, a journey with our hand
in the hands of God. What a joy to have a God who is so close to us, so close
to us that the very moment we wish to return to God, we bounce right into God!
From the call that we received last Sunday, the call to bear fruit, the whole
week Jesus has been teaching us of the fruits that we have to bear – the fruit
of communion, the fruit of forgiveness, the fruit of love, the fruit of
humility and so on. When we take to heart the call, and embark on that journey,
there would sure be moments of fall and failure. Jesus assures us today – it is
not the worst issue to fall, the worst is not knowing that you have fallen.
The first step towards a
true Christian life is the REALIZATION of
who we are. With the life situations, the daily choices and commitments, it is
possible that I forget who I am. The First reading today pictures to us God
calling the people of Israel through Joshua, to realize who they were and all
that God had done for them! That exactly is the first line of action that Jesus
gives us today through the example of the younger son in the parable. We read
that ‘he came to his senses’... that is, he finally realized who he was! Pope
St. Leo the Great would say, "Christian, recognize your dignity and, now
that you share in God's own nature, do not return to your former base condition
by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never
forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into
the light of the Kingdom of God."
The second step is
presented in the second reading, where St. Paul reminds us that God has
reconciled to Godself through Christ and has given us the ministry of
reconciliation. It is infact an invitation to RETURN to God, reconciled to God, to our brothers and sisters in
God. In doing that we become new creatures; in returning to God we become newly
born. Jesus recounts the father in the parable as saying about the younger son
who had returned to the father, that he was dead and he is come alive, that he
was lost and is now found! So, the call is to return to God. If we truly realize
who we are, we cannot but return to God, because we cannot stay away from God.
St. Agustine’s words, “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new,
late have I loved you! You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and
now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You
touched me, and I burned for your peace” are words of beauty and wisdom which
makes us understand that we are made for God and our hearts would always be
restless, until they rest in God. Let us Return home, let us Return to the
bosom of God. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the direct highway to the
heart of the One who waits for us eagerly for ever right at the door post to
spot us from far, to run to us and embrace us. James says that in such simple
words – Come close to God, God will come close to you (Jam 4:8).
The Realisation and the
Return to God create an atmosphere of joy that one cannot hide. That atmosphere
is the state of life to which Jesus calls us today as the third line of action.
“REJOICE in the Lord always, I repeat, Rejoice,” cries out St. Paul (Phil 4:4).
Christian life is a celebration, a celebration of every moment, a celebration
of every experience be it ordinary or extraordinary. In the parable Jesus speaks
of two decisions that were made – the first one was, “I will arise and go to my
Father”, a decision that leads to celebration, joy, happiness and rejoicing.
The second decision was that of the Elder son – He was indignant and he refused
to enter the house!
The Choice is ours dear
friends!
What decision would I want to make? To arise and go to God and thus
run towards a Celebration OR become angry, upset, unforgiving, unloving,
grumpy, jealous, and cold towards my brothers and sisters and refuse to enter
the house, thus remaining in sadness and grief. Let us pay heed to the call, the call to
Celebrate – to celebrate the love and the mercy of God, to celebrate our faith
and celebrate our brothers and sisters in faith!
With the younger son of the
parable, let us arise, let us go to God and let us celebrate life in the
Father’s house!