THE WORD
FIRST READING Jos 5,9.10-12
Then the LORD said to Joshua: Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore the place is called Gilgal to the present day.
While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. On the day after the Passover they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain. On that same day after they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.
SECOND READING: 2 Cor 5,17-21
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
GOSPEL: Lk 15,1-3.11-32
The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable.
Then he said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.
Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the fi nest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.
Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed upyour property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’
He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’
IN OTHER WORDS
You and I love stories with happy endings, like “and they lived happily ever after.” The question, however, is “Can we say this after reading the parable of the prodigal son or, as some prefer, the parable of the prodigal and foolish father who followed the reasons of his heart instead of the logic in his head.
Were we dealing with an ordinary, earthly and practical father, the story would have ended with the parent showing the door to both his sons who gravely disappointed him with what they had done and one can believe with difficulty that Jesus was trying, by means of this parable, to show that his Father, and our Father too, has a standard of forgiveness and a passion for us which is “way out of this world.” God’s love and forgiveness are beyond our human capacity to comprehend. We just have to believe and accept.
When we look at the people around us or at the violence being committed by men on their own brothers, or look at the objectively pathetic turn of events in our own friends’ and relatives’ lives, we wonder at times loudly if for these wayward people there is still some hope for salvation. The parable Jesus told us—if understood and, more importantly, accepted-- is a powerful source to be optimistic. Our optimism is based on St. Ireneus’ claim that “Man fully alive is God’s greatest glory.”
Dame Julian of Norwich, the English mystic from the 15th century, was so convinced of God’s love overcoming all human resistance at the end. She, in a language borne of an insight which is truly extraordinary claims that at the end, “All is well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
- Fr.Florencio Lagura, SVD | (U.S.A.)
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
