{"id":1783,"date":"2016-03-06T14:53:55","date_gmt":"2016-03-06T19:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1783"},"modified":"2016-03-06T14:53:55","modified_gmt":"2016-03-06T19:53:55","slug":"4th-sunday-of-lent-year-c-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/4th-sunday-of-lent-year-c-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday of Lent, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th<\/sup> Sunday of Lent, Year C<\/a>
\nJoshua 5:9a, 10-12
\nPsalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
\n2 Corinthians 5:17-21
\nLuke 15:1-3, 11-32
\nMarch 6, 2016<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s story of the prodigal son is a familiar story to most and a favorite to many.\u00a0 What makes it a favorite?<\/p>\n

The younger son rejects his father (that’s not the favorable part) but when he returns after a life of dissipation, he is greeted by his father who has been eagerly watching for his return and immediately welcomes him back.\u00a0 Of course, the father is like God is to us, eager to forgive us when we reject Him.<\/p>\n

The younger son rejects his father when he asks for his inheritance before the father dies and then goes away.\u00a0 In doing this he would be dead to his family.\u00a0 When we sin, we are rejecting God by saying we know what God has taught and we are going to do what we want.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for us, God is eager to forgive us.\u00a0 He is so eager and so loving that He sends His Son Jesus to die for us.\u00a0 We receive His forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.\u00a0 It is the gift of God\u2019s forgiveness and its value is priceless.<\/p>\n

So we relate to the younger son but we should think about how we should be like the father in the story.\u00a0 How eager are we to forgive others who have wronged us?\u00a0 Is there someone we don\u2019t want to forgive?\u00a0 How does that match up with the words we say in the Lord\u2019s Prayer, \u201cforgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

The motto of our Jubilee Year of Mercy is \u201cmerciful like the father.\u201d\u00a0 Are we merciful?\u00a0 Or are we angry?\u00a0 Do we hold onto the anger?\u00a0 If so, then we need to hand our anger over to God.<\/p>\n

There is a third character in the story who becomes angry.\u00a0 It is the older son.\u00a0 He is the one who can say to his father, \u201cLook, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 He goes onto talk about how the father has never given him \u201ceven a young goat<\/em>\u201d to sacrifice with his friends.<\/p>\n

The older son is jealous<\/em> that the father has welcomed the younger son back and forgiven him.\u00a0 He cannot rejoice that his brother has returned.<\/p>\n

Have you ever felt jealous towards someone who sins and then returns to God and is forgiven?<\/p>\n

How about envious?\u00a0 Perhaps you have been coming to church your whole life and always tried hard to follow God\u2019s commandments.\u00a0 You put forth all the effort and there is no celebration for you.\u00a0 Then, here comes someone you have known for a long time.\u00a0 They haven\u2019t been to church in a very long time.\u00a0 They have sinned in obvious ways and there is no denying their guilt but now you see them back in church.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this reminds you of the story of the woman caught in adultery.\u00a0 There was no denying her guilt as she was caught red-handed.\u00a0 Those who caught her want to stone her.\u00a0 Jesus says \u201clet he who is without sin cast the first stone<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one casts that stone because we are all sinners.\u00a0 Instead they leave till it is just Jesus and the woman left.\u00a0 He tells her \u201cGo and sin no more.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 He forgives her and directs her not to sin again.<\/p>\n

He does the same with us.\u00a0 Who is there that you need to forgive?\u00a0 The father eagerly awaited the return of the younger son.\u00a0 Do you await the return of those who have wronged you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Lent, Year C Joshua 5:9a, 10-12 Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 March 6, 2016 Today\u2019s story of the prodigal son is a familiar story to most and a favorite to many.\u00a0 What makes it a favorite? The younger son rejects his father (that’s not the favorable part) …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘4th Sunday of Lent, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,150,157],"tags":[70,139,165],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-sL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1783"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1785,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783\/revisions\/1785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}