Lent Week 2: Saturday
THE HEART OF THE FATHER
Today’s gospel never fails to mesmerize us. The story of the father and his prodigal son has been said to be the very summary of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the heart of his preaching. From this gospel, I have written my master’s thesis and its theme has guided me to the point of writing my own doctoral dissertation. Why is this parable so endearing to so many of us?
It is truly abnormal for one to love the sinner, the imperfect, and the wayward. Isn’t it that we would rather be magnetized towards the good, the disciplined, and the holy among us? It is thus surprising that the father leans more towards the renegade son and offers him a path of return and restoration into the family he once betrayed and abandoned.
In the heart of God, those who are faithful are truly blessed and will reap the rewards of their devotion to him and their service to others. But the faithful are not simply asked to be content in being in God’s presence. The Heavenly Father desires that they imitate him, conform to his own heart, and make his goodness and generosity theirs.
While it is easy to shun the sinner, our God is a God who invites us to be like him in welcoming them into our hearts, even as a lost brother or sister who needs understanding and compassion. In a world where loud voices call for denunciation, condemnation, and exclusion of those who are considered evil in the sight of society, the voice of God calls for an alternative: justice tempered by love, mercy expressed as justice, closing no doors but opening pathways to conversion.
This is how the Lord deals with us sinners. Should we not regard in the same way those who sinned against us?
Finally, if we are wondering why the father in the parable acts this way, the gospel narrative does not give an explanation. But the first reading from the prophet Micah describes the nature of God our Father in this way:
“Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt
and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;
Who does not persist in anger forever,
but delights rather in clemency,
And will again have compassion on us,
treading underfoot our guilt?
You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;
You will show faithfulness to Jacob,
and grace to Abraham,
As you have sworn to our fathers
from days of old.”
Today I reflect with gratitude in my heart, on the character and disposition of God the Father of Jesus, and my Father, too. I humbly ask him to give me the grace to become like him in mercy and compassion.
