Saturday, March 13, 2010

 

4TH SUNDAY OF LENT – C

MARCH 14, 2010
4TH SUNDAY OF LENT – C

JOSHUA 5:9, 10-12
Yahweh then said to Joshua, 'Today I have taken the shame of Egypt
away from you.' Hence, the place has been called Gilgal ever since.
The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover
there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the plain of
Jericho. On the very next day after the Passover, they ate what the
land produced, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn. The manna
stopped the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. The
Israelites from that year onwards ate the produce of Canaan and had no
more manna.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-21
So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order
is gone and a new being is there to see. It is all God's work; he
reconciled us to himself through Christ and he gave us the ministry of
reconciliation. I mean, God was in Christ reconciling the world to
himself, not holding anyone's faults against them, but entrusting to
us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it
is as though God were urging you through us, and in the name of Christ
we appeal to you to be reconciled to God. For our sake he made the
sinless one a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the
uprightness of God.

LUKE 15:1-3, 11-32
The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to
listen to him, and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, 'This
man welcomes sinners and eats with them.' So he told them this
parable: Then he said, 'There was a man who had two sons. The younger
one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate
that will come to me." So the father divided the property between
them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had
and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life
of debauchery. 'When he had spent it all, that country experienced a
severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch; so he hired himself
out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed
the pigs. And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks
the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them. Then he came
to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all
the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger! I will
leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your
son; treat me as one of your hired men." So he left the place and went
back to his father. 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw
him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his
arms and kissed him. Then his son said, "Father, I have sinned against
heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son."
But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring out the best robe
and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate
by having a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come back
to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate. 'Now
the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew
near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the
servants he asked what it was all about. The servant told him, "Your
brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been
fattening because he has got him back safe and sound." He was angry
then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge
him to come in; but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have
slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you
never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.
But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up
your property -- he and his loose women -- you kill the calf we had
been fattening." 'The father said, "My son, you are with me always and
all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and
rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he
was lost and is found." '

REFLECTION
Have we ever experienced being or getting lost?

Yet, the actual point of the parables is the initiative that God shows
on the lost. In the story of the parable of the prodigal son, the
Father in a rare occasion runs in order to meet his wayward son. In
the Middle East tradition, to run for someone with that kind of rank
and stature was something extraordinary. Yet the father was willing to
do something even to the point of being humbled only because of his
deep and unconditional love for his son who may receive the bad and
unfavorable comments of those who would see him on his return. More
significantly, the father restores the son to his original identity,
that is, not a slave as envisioned by the lost boy but rather a son.
This was evident in the many symbols like the ring, sandals, and
fattened calf that the father ordered with the homecoming of his lost
child.

Sounds impossible but when we think about it, wasn't it the way by
which Jesus who is God humbled himself and became human like us in
order to show his solidarity with us and thereby show us the way to
salvation?

All of us are to a greater or lesser degree experienced to be lost
with regard to hope and meaning in life. How did God show his saving
power? What did God do in order that we may be able to realize our
mistake that we decided even with the most impure reasons decided to
go back to him. And when we did so, what were manifestations that
would indicate that God was treating us like his children again?

We are then blessed with a God who truly cares, something that we are
indeed grateful for.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Alejandro Legaspi
- Lydia Pe
… for the personal intentions of
- Couples for Christ Saudi Arabia chapter
- Mary Wong
- JES
- Don V.
… for the personal intentions and guidance of
- the Olmedo Family
- the Atrero Family
.. Birthday:
- Aileen Bernadette Velasco
- Char Tan
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Charlene Hazel C. Tan
- Wedding Anniversary: Randy & Myla Hizon Libre
- Wedding Anniversary: Dionisio & Teresa Lim Tan
- In Memoriam (+): Richard O'Gorman
… for the healing and peace of all families

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers
and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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