fourth sunday of lent

Posted on by Cassie

Today’s gospel is one of the most important in the New Testament.  Jesus gives us His personal insight concerning God the Father.

The first section of the Gospel tells us about the younger son.  He demanded his share of the estate, thus considering his father as good as dead.  He then spends all his inheritance on loose living.  He ends up living in the worst possible conditions.  Then he decides he would be better off as a servant of his father.  He realizes that he is not worthy to be a son, but asks his father to take him on as a servant.  He goes back to the father.  Notice, he doesn’t say he is sorry and his motivation to return is so that he could live in a better situation.  He is selfish and self-centered.

The next section of the parable reveals the heart of the father.  He is compassionate.  He runs to meet his son and embraces him.  He not only restores the boy to his former dignity, but in his joy, he declares a feast.  The father had never renounced the truth of his relationship with his son, and he acted on it.  This is mercy, a movement of love based on the truth and the profound justice contained in the relationship.

Mercy looks to the person; pity looks to the need.  Our Father has mercy and never parts from it: he is loyal to the relationship he has established with us in Christ.

Pope John Paul II said: “this prodigal son is man, every human being…like the father in this parable,  God looks out for the return of His child, embraces Him when He arrives and orders the banquet of the new meeting with which the reconciliation is celebrated”(Reconciliation and Penance, N-5).

The older son often elicits  sympathy from us and a sense of identification.  Perhaps we also serve the Father and “never once disobey,” but more to secure our own safety than out of love for the Father.  We would rather be safe based on our performance than free, based on the Father’s love.  Such a freedom frightens us.  May this parable  move us into that realm of freedom.  Let us obey and trust in a movement of love based on the truth of who the Father is and of His relationship to us.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

 

second sunday of lent

Posted on by Cassie

Before Jesus embarks on His journey to Jerusalem, where He would suffer and die, He takes Peter, James and John up a mountain.  Here we experience the Transfiguration, which illumines for us in a profound way just who Jesus is.

It is interesting to note that Jesus went up on the mount on the “eighth day.”  The only Jewish Feast which lasts eight days is the Feast of Tabernacles.  This Feast commemorates Gods’ protection for Israel in the desert wanderings after Sinai.  This took place in the time of Moses.

Part of the celebration required the building of  booths, to symbolize God’s sheltering presence with the glory cloud from the sun (see Isaiah 4:5-6).  In Luke’s story of the Transfiguration a cloud comes and overshadows the group around Jesus.  When you consider Peter’s comment about building three tents it is obvious that Peter is thinking of the Feast of Tabernacles.  This Jewish Feast remembers the journey of the people of Israel in the desert.

Luke is the only Gospel to include the topic of conversation between Jesus, Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration.  They spoke of “His exodus, that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (verse 31).  The suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus will be a new exodus – He is the new Moses for the new Israel, the Church.

Jesus’ exodus is His departure from this world enslaved to sin, to the new promised land of Heaven.  When Moses promised the Israelites that God would raise up a prophet like himself, he said, “to Him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15) with Peter James and John, let us “listen to Him” (verse 35).

Lent is a wonderful time to learn how to listen to Jesus.  We need to pay more attention to what Jesus wants to say to us and less attention to what we can do for Him.

Our God is generous and loving.  He wants to share His life with us.  However, sometimes we are just too busy serving Him to receive Him.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

 

first sunday of lent

Posted on by Cassie

Every year on the First Sunday of Lent we focus on the story of Jesus being tempted by the Devil in the Desert after His Baptism by Saint John.  This year we use St. Luke as our guide to what took place during the 40 days of fasting in the desert.

The account of Jesus’ temptations demonstrates that he overcame the three great vices: love of pleasure, love of possessions, and love of glory.  His refusal to be mastered by any of these vices shows us that Jesus is a great moral teacher.  He is for each of us an example of discipline and dedication to Gods’ will.

Alone in the desert, where no human could observe and where only God could see Him, Jesus showed Himself to be the obedient Son of God.  Throughout His life, even to the cross, Jesus showed Himself to be God’s humble servant.

In Baptism we become children of God, and we become His Holy Temple.  Lent is for us a time when we respond to the personal invitation of God to come back to Him with all our hearts.  We can use Lent to rediscover how much we are loved by God and share that love with each other.

Lent can be seen as the time when we cleanse ourselves as God’s Temple.  It is not unlike spring cleaning.  Despite our best intentions, and the best things we do, there can be our own life things  that are not of God-things that must be cleaned out.  In a sense, it is like the difference between everyday vacuuming and those times when we move the sofa and vacuum.  During Lent we “move the sofa” in our lives.  It is not just a question of dirt and sin, it is a question of realizing our thoughts and, by fasting and more intense prayer and more intense works of mercy, we begin to see things differently.  We begin to take another look at our lives.

What we do during Lent is not simply getting rid of the sinfulness in us.  It is also opening our hearts and minds to a fresh, deeper, fuller awareness of God within us and around us, and to His holy will.

As we begin our Lenten Retreat the Church takes us into the desert so we can learn from Jesus how to overcome the temptations of this world.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell