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2022-03-27 – 4th Sunday Lent ● Joshua 5:9a, 10-12 ● Psalm ___ ● 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ● +Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 ●
Title: Hostility / Humility / Prodigal Son
[_01_] When I was in high school, one of my friends applied to college, to Harvard University. He really wanted to go there. His uncle was a graduate of Harvard and his mom would even play the Harvard fight song and other college fight songs on the family piano at home. The had many “Harvard Crimson” team mascot bumper stickers and sweatshirts and gear in her wardrobe, in her house et cetera.
So, you would think that her son – my
friend – would definitely get in to Harvard. Apparently, owning the gear does
not get you into college.
My
friend was a very good student, but, he did not gain acceptance to the Harvard.
This was not the end of the world. He still went to college, graduated from
college and has done well.
After the rejection letter came from Harvard,
my friend’s parents were absolutely irate. Hostile, you could say toward “Harvard”.
They were never ever seen wearing a Harvard sweatshirt or showing bumper
stickers again. They did not play the fight song at home either..
They remained
hostile to the Harvard– because they rejected her son - and did not root for
them in basketball or football. If she were alive today, she would be very glad
to know that “Harvard” a well known
school is not in the national tournament of basketball and the miniscule small
underdog team of St. Peter’s University in Jersey City is still competing.
They had hostility toward Harvard.
Apologies to Harvard fans everywhere.
[_02_] I would like to share with you that the Gospel and our salvation is about our own mobility and ability to move from HOSTILITY to HUMILITY.
Also, Jesus – while he is our King and
Judge – comes in humility to give us examples of love.
è John
3:16, other
We receive grace and forgiveness through
Christ’s humility. Also, it is great practice in HUMILITY to repent of our sins
and to forgive the trespasses against us. The Lord’s Prayer is also a petition
for humility.
St. Augustine in his somewhat slow path to
conversion and his time away from God’s ways was famous for embracing many
pleasures, and faults and sinful ways while also hoping one day he would
change. And, he prayed, “Lord, give me the gift of chastity and purity …but
just not yet..”
Do I make prayers for humility in the same way…Lord, make me humble, but just not yet. I need achieve some thing… then, I will be humble later. That is often my plan – I it is not God’s plan.
[_03_] We read a contrast between HUMLITY and HOSTILITY and in the Gospel introduction today.
1st. There is HUMILITY in
the “tax collectors and sinners who were drawing near to listen to Jesus” (Luke
15:___)
But there is 2nd. HOSTILITY. In the scribes and
Pharisees who complain saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:___)
[_04_] Are you trying to get even? I am trying to
get even, not necessarily at individual people, but to “get even” in my
attitude toward my daily schedule.
EXAMPLE. Let’s say that I have a day
on which I am called to several things for others, or several meetings or
errands which I find to be unappealing. All of us have to do things that are
unappealing, at times.
At the end of such a day, I want to
“get even”. While I try to make time for
prayer and reflection and genuine service, there are times at which I have to
really intentionally choose the right thing or cut back on what gives me the
most convenience or enjoyment.
At the end of a busy day, I am tempted
to maximize my autonomy and freedom, perhaps staying up too late whether at
work or at leisure. Why do I do this,
because I want to get even. That’s my
viewpoint on freedom.
It’s not entirely correct.
[_05_] In the parable of the Prodigal Son, we
might immediately think that his problems are FINANCIAL – he needed better
budgeting or investing. But, that’s really not the message. Even if the
Prodigal Son had used the money seized from his father to start a successful
tech company which later went public and made him millions, he would still be
the “Prodigal Son”.
The Prodigal Son is only thinking
about himself. He has a FREEDOM problem.
We're called to use our freedom for good. Sometimes we are tempted to use our freedom to get out of family responsibilities, or to get away from our responsibilities, or to get away from our children. Or to get away from our spouse. That's how sometimes we are tempted to use our freedom. But God says, a man shall leave his father and mother and be cling to his wife and the two of them shall become one body freedom. worn in extreme case, we may even use our freedom to conquer our adversaries or enemies to take more than we deserve. Freedom in the gospel and in the Bible is not freedom from responsibility. It is a freedom for responsible behavior. The prodigal son, he's got a freedom problem. T
he
prodigal sons brother also has a freedom problem. He doesn't feel very free.
The prodigal son has a forgiveness problem too. Because he doesn't know what
forgiveness is.
[_06_] In the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, in going to confession, this is the way that you as a Catholic and I as a Catholic come to know true FORGIVENESS, and FREEDOM.
Sadly, you may have had – any 1 of us
may have had a bad experience in the confessional and this may cause you to see
the confessional as more of an obstacle than an opportunity. I urge you not to judge the entire
sacramental system or church by this person-to-person interaction. It is
unfortunate. It should not happen.
Nevertheless, God is not working out your
salvation and mine on a purely human level. Jesus Christ Himself is really the
one you are speaking to in confession. And, the priest represents him. Sometimes, going to confession in the
traditional way, behind the screen, will remind you and me that it is really
God we are speaking to.
Why we need confession?
(Source: https://catholicexchange.com/st-francis-de-sales-guide-to-reconciliation/)
I read this recently:
“When we
wrong someone we love, our own recognition of what we have done and our own
hope that we will be forgiven does not suffice to right the wrong. We must
admit to the beloved our own culpability and express our sorrow for having
harmed the relationship. And when we hear the one we love express forgiveness,
we know for sure that our harmful deed is relegated to the past; then, and only
then, does our reconciliation really begin.
So,
too, when that reconciliation takes place with God.”
[_07_] The
prodigal son has a forgiveness problem because he thinks he can earn his way
back. He can't. He can't work it off. And he's not being asked to work it off.
Because the father of the prodigal son has a better plan for him. A better plan
for you as well as, as for you and me as well. In real life. Jesus is paying
the debt for our sins and allowing us to live in freedom to know that our value
personally is not something financial. And to know that forgiveness is
possible.
The Prodigal Son does not have to make
application and be put on a waiting list. He is forgiven. The message is the
same for you and me.
If
we come home, if we repent, we will get more you will get more than you
deserve. Doing so you are also able to do more than others deserve.
You can also forgive them to forgive
trespasses as your trespasses have been forgiven. You were able to you are able
to love perfectly in an imperfect world. In God’s Kingdom – and where we hope
to go – humility is more powerful than hostility. And, it is Christ’s humility
that brings you home, with a greater acceptance and place than we could imagine.
[_fin_]
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