Sunday, March 30, 2025 - Homily

 

Sunday, March 30, 2025 - The Prodigal Father

To read the texts click on the texts: Jos 5:9-12; 2Cor 5:17-21; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

The Parable of the Prodigal son is more aptly named the Parable of the Prodigal father. The real prodigal, profligate, wasteful character in the story is not so much the son as it is the father. It is the father who is wasteful in his love. It is the father who is profligate in his forgiveness. It is the father who is prodigal in his unconditional mercy and compassion. This Parable is unique to the Gospel of Luke and is set in the context of the murmurings of the Pharisees and scribes because Jesus eats with “tax collectors and sinners”.

There is no rationale in the demand of the younger son. His demand was such that it would result, not only in breaking family ties, but also in regarding his father as dead. The father, however, holds back nothing. He gives all he can give to his son; he gives his very life. The granting of the demand of the younger son results in his progressive estrangement. He first leaves home and his father and goes to a faraway country. He also mismanages the money given to him. He spends it all on loose living. His descent into poverty and deprivation is swift. He descends so low that he agrees to work for a gentile, in a gentile land, tending swine. Swine were an abomination to Jews, who were prohibited from raising swine. The man who would dare to breed swine was considered cursed. The younger son becomes a total destitute.

However, when he is at the depth of his degradation and in the midst of mire and filth, he comes to his senses. That he is serious about his return is shown in his actions. He prepares his act of contrition, his plea for mercy and then, gets up from the mire and begins the journey to his father. While the son is still a long way off, the father runs to meet him. In the first century, it was considered undignified for grown men to run. The father sets aside respect and dignity. The son begins his speech but is not allowed to complete it. The father interrupts his son even before he can finish, He gives instructions to his servants to bring a robe, a ring, and sandals, all of which indicate that the son is given back his original place as son. The call to kill the fatted calf is a sign that the return of the son is to be regarded as a time of celebration. The dead son has come alive. The lost son has been found. All sin is forgiven, all iniquity is pardoned, and all guilt is erased by the embrace of father and son.

This, however, is only one part of the parable and has to do with the vertical dimension and reconciliation. It has to do with one’s relationship to God.

The second part of the parable, in which the elder son is introduced, has to do with the horizontal dimension and is equally or possibly more important. The elder son neither addressed his father, as father, nor his brother, as brother. His focus is on merit and what he thinks is rightfully his. This also leads him to point to the faults of the younger son, his brother. His father, however, wants him to focus on the joy and delight of welcoming his brother who has come back from darkness to light and from death to new life.

While many of us can resonate with the first and third parts of the parable, namely the demand of the younger son for his share and the unforgiving attitude of the elder son, we find it extremely difficult to believe or even fathom the centre of the parable which concerns the forgiveness of the father. There are two possible reasons for this. The first is that our image of God is warped. We concentrate only on the judgement, anger, and wrath of God. We forget God’s unconditional mercy and love as revealed in Jesus. The second reason is that we expect God to behave with us like we behave with others. Since we are often unforgiving, like the elder son, we think that God will be unforgiving with us as well. However, the truth is that we have been loved first. We have been forgiven first and we have been pardoned first. We have been accepted totally and completely by God.

Even the first reading of today speaks of the mercy that God had on the people when God rolled away the disgrace of Egypt for Israel and they were given the privilege of eating of the produce of the land. God erased their sin and accepted them, even with their failings and their faults.

The readings of today throw up a dual challenge. The first is to believe, and know, that God forgives unconditionally no matter how grave our sin might be. It is to accept totally the immeasurable depth of God’s boundless love. It is to realize, in the depths of our hearts, that God is always willing to take us back. The second challenge that follows from the first, and is related to it, is our acceptance and forgiveness of others as God forgives us.

This is the challenge that Paul issues to the Corinthians in the second reading of today when he invites them to be ambassadors for Christ. Anyone who claims to be a disciple and follower of Christ has become a new creation and has been reconciled to God.

Saturday, March 29, 2025 - Homily

 

Saturday, March 29, 2025 - Does the content of your prayer include despising or condemning others? Has pride prevented you from encountering God? What will you do about it today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Hosea 5:15 – 6:6; Lk 18:9-14

The parable that forms the text today is knows as the Parable of the Pharisee and tax Collector but is not so much about these persons as it is about the disposition for prayer in any person. It is exclusive to Luke. The parable is addressed not to the Pharisees, but to those who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt”. This could be a description of any self-righteous person.

The two men who went up to the temple to pray are introduced as a Pharisee and a tax collector. Pharisee means “separated one” and the Pharisee in the parable takes this prayer position. He stands apart or by himself. Though he begins his prayer with thanksgiving, it is soon clear that it is not genuine thanks, but self centered. He is aware of the presence of the tax collector in the temple and regards him with contempt even as he prays. The Pharisee makes clear that he follows the law perfectly and obeys even the injunctions to fast and give tithes. He asks nothing of God probably because he thinks he is self-sufficient.

By contrast the tax collector will not dare to come near but stands “far off”. This indicates his position before God. He does not consider himself worthy. While the commonly accepted posture of prayer was with hands folded and looking up to God, this tax collector stands with his head bowed and “would not even look up to heaven”. Instead he beats his breast in acknowledgement of the fact that he is unworthy and a sinner. His prayer is God centered. He cedes all power to God. He has nothing to boast about.

The comment at the end of the parable makes clear its intent. The Pharisee returned to his home without having been made righteous, but the tax collector was accepted before God.

Those who trust in their own righteousness will regard others with contempt, and those who regard others with contempt cannot then bring themselves to rely on God’s grace. Therefore, persons who exalt themselves over others and boast of their virtue before God will discover that they have cut themselves off from both, and persons who are aware of their need for grace and forgiveness will not be able to despise other people.

The nature of grace is paradoxical: It can be received only by those who have learned empathy for others. In that regard, grace partakes of the nature of mercy and forgiveness. Only the merciful can receive mercy, and only those who forgive will be forgiven. The Pharisee had enough religion to be virtuous, but not enough to be humble. As a result, his religion drove him away from the tax collector rather than toward him.

Friday, March 28, 2025 - Homily

 

Friday, March 28, 2025 - Will your love for God show in your love for at least one person today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Hosea 14:2-10; Mk12:28-34

In Matthew 22:35, the lawyer asks the question about the great commandment in order to test Jesus; in Mark he is not hostile and does not intend to test Jesus. As a matter of fact Mark mentions at the beginning of the incident that the lawyer thought that Jesus had answered the Sadducees well and at the end of that response, he commends Jesus for his answer. Jesus responds to the lawyer’s question in the words of the “Shema”, which speaks of love of God (Deut 6:5-6), but adds also the love of neighbour (Lev 19:18). The scribe’s response to this is to acknowledge Jesus’ answer as correct and to add that following these commandments is greater than sacrifices and burnt offerings. Jesus concludes the dialogue by stating that because the scribe has recognized what his priorities are, he is not far from the kingdom of God.

 

Love of God cannot really be separated from love of neighbour. The two go together. Our love for God is made manifest and tangible only when we reach out in love to someone else.  While Paul gives a beautiful description of what love is and what it is not in 1 Corinthians 13, my own definition of love is that in love there is no “I”.

Thursday, March 27, 2025 - Homily

 

Thursday, March 27, 2025 - Which is the demon that has possessed you and does not leave you free? Will you attempt to get rid of that demon today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Jer 7:23-28; Lk 11:14-23

The onlookers respond to the exorcism of a demon that made a man mute, in different ways. While there are some who are amazed, others attribute Jesus’ power to cast out demons to Beelzebul and still others ask for a sign from heaven. This is an indication that no one doubted Jesus’ power to exorcise and heal. They attributed it to different sources. In his response to this charge and test, Jesus says that since exorcisms represented a direct assault on Satan’ power and kingdom, it is clear that he cannot be on Satan’s side. Also, if Jesus’ exorcisms’ were performed by the power of Satan, the same would have to be said of other exorcists belonging to their community. Instead Jesus’ works indicate that the kingdom of God has indeed arrived. Through his exorcisms, Satan’s power is broken. In the simile of the strong man and his castle, Jesus explicates that he is the stronger one who overpowers Satan who had guarded his kingdom well till this time. Finally Jesus invites his listeners to take a stand for him. The saying here is strong. If one does not positively opt for Jesus, one has opted against him. The time now is for decision and choice.

Once he has answered his critics (11:17-23), Jesus moves on to exhort his listeners to fill their lives with the kingdom of God, because it is possible that despite the exorcism, if a person persists in his old ways, he will be possessed once again and this will be ever worse than before.

While there is no doubt that Jesus did exorcise people who were possessed by demons, we must avoid getting caught up with exorcisms ourselves. Rather, today there are many subtle forms of “possession” which are more dangerous than “external possession”. Some of these are consumerism, selfishness, ignorance and a better than thou attitude. We need to ask the Lord to exorcise these demons from our lives.

 

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - Homlly

 

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - When was the last time you performed an action without any expectation of reward? Will you perform one today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Dt 4:1, 5-9; Mt 5:17-19

These verses contain what are commonly known as the “theme” of the Sermon on the Mount. In these verses, the Matthean Jesus makes explicit that he is a law abiding Jew. His attitude towards the Jewish law is fundamentally positive. However, Jesus also makes explicit here, that he has come not merely to confirm or establish the law, but to fulfill or complete it. This means that he will go beyond a purely legal interpretation to a broader perspective. He will remove the focus from the mere external and concentrate on the internal. The focus will be more on the attitude than merely on the action.

While laws, rules and regulations are necessary and help towards order, it is also possible that they can become ends in themselves and not as they are meant to be, means to an end. We might follow in some cases the letter of the law, but miss out on its spirit. We might even follow the rule or law only because we are afraid of getting caught and punished and not because we are convinced of it.