Celebrating Reconciliation, Return & Renewal
Joshua 5: 9-12; 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21; Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32
The Return to hope, the pilgrimage of this Lent has reached the landmark Fourth Sunday - the Sunday of Celebration, Laetare Sunday. The call today, for this entire week, is to celebrate! Our Christian life is a life of Celebration - in spite of whatever difficulty or trouble, we can find a thousand reasons to thank the Lord, to celebrate the gifts that the Lord keeps filling us with.
The Word today explains the call we have to celebrate, that we are called,
to celebrate Reconciliation:
That the Lord calls us to Reconciliation, to get back to that relationship which alone can give us meaning! The Lord has made a covenant with us, a covenant that would never change, on the part of the Lord. The call is to us, to get back to that relationship, it does not matter how far we have gone away.
to celebrate Return:
It is a return that we celebrate today, a return that is made possible by the Lord. On our own it is not possible for us to return, but the Lord makes it possible to us. An important detail is, if it has to be a return, I need to realise where my original identity is. The parable of the prodigal son is a classic representation of "return" which forms one of the core themes of this whole pilgrimage that we have undertaken. One of the peak experiences of return that we can celebrate is the sacrament of Reconciliation!
to celebrate Renewal:
The celebration is truly due and impelling, because what we celebrate is a renewal. Lent, is a time when we celebrate what the Lord has done for us - through his life, death and resurrection. We celebrate New Life, Renewed Life, Eternal Life. What we see in the first reading is that lease of new life that the people of God experienced... from manna to a new crop of grains, it was a new beginning for them. That is what we are challenged to be: renewed beings in Christ.
One who is in Christ is a new person...and we need to celebrate that renewal, through returning to that relationship!
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