Homily for the 4th Sunday in Lent, March 30, 2025

While it is comforting and reassuring to know from the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32) that God’s love for us is such that we are guaranteed a safety net of grace were we to stray and become “big time sinners,” it begs the question: “Why is Jesus, today, retelling us the story that we know so very well?”  

He knows that we are quite familiar with it … unless he feels that we really need to take another look at this parable and see if there is something of vital importance in it, we urgently need to consider.  

Right away, we might be forced to notice that, when it comes to how grace operates, the really “wise and prudent people” are precisely those with whom we do not associate: “sinners and tax collectors,” people who never have any trouble acknowledging that they are in constant need of divine mercy. 

Out of false humility, we admit that we are sinners; but we think that we are “lite” sinners, unlike atheists, agnostics, criminals, abortionists, sexual deviants, pedophiles, thieves, cheaters and the likes. 

We are very careful not to be numbered in the reproachable category of tax collectors and sinners. Thus, we must be quickly reminded, first, that the Blood of Jesus was shed on the cross for all even though, sadly, only many open their hearts to benefit from it. Secondly, that it is easier for those who have reached rock bottom to let God’s grace transform them. We cannot forget that the list of Saints who came up from rock bottom is very numerous. 

But our careful dissociation from tax collectors and sinners would place us near or in the group of Pharisees and scribes, who complain that Jesus welcomes sinner and eats with them.  That would number us among those who feel they do not need to be welcomed by Jesus and eat with him!  

Keeping in mind that Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father’s heart, this most comforting parable describes accurately what it means, for wise and prudent sinners, to find themselves in the Father’s embrace and to eat with Jesus. 

For the Bible, the term eating with someone refers to the decision to establish with that person a bond stronger than the one of flesh and blood. 

And for the Gospels, eating with Jesus is a subtle reference to Holy Communion. 

Thus, to truly appreciate the risk we take if we do not feel the need to be in the Father’s embrace and enjoy the celebration he arranges whenever he has back his sinful children safe and sound, we ought to examine the joyless and angry attitude of the elder son. 

It is the attitude prevalent among the Pharisees and scribes who consider God a demanding master rather than a loving and most compassionate Father. ‘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. Luke 15:29 

If we, like the Pharisees and the scribes, feel the burden of the Father’s commands, due to pronounced self-absorption and lukewarm love, we might choose a life of self-imposed miseries for ourselves.  

If left unchecked and reinforced by our impeccable conduct, our resentment will entitle us to live at the edge of our Father’s divine Family: He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. Luke 15:28 

Careful! All his children whose conduct we deem reprehensible will cease to be our brothers and sisters and, thus, we might be inclined to judge them very harshly and with ease: But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ Luke 15:30 

I do not know about you, but the more I dwell on this parable, the more I feel compelled to examine how I fit in the Father’s universal Family. 

At least once a week, our Father waits anxiously for us to enter his house, to celebrate and to rejoice. 

Jesus’ description of the Father’s heart can certainly give us a most powerful reason to be here for the Eucharist. 

The father ignores the affront of his younger son, who could not wait for him to be dead before requesting his share of the estate. 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. Luke 15:20 

How comforting it should be to know that our offenses sadden our Father but, far from reducing his love for us, make it more intense and filled with compassion. 

Secondly, no matter how low we sink, our Father will never consider us hired workers; if we own up to our misjudgments and foolishness, our Father wants us to be restored to the fullness of rights as his children, including the “finest robe, ring and sandals.”  

On this day, in his home, the Father waits anxiously for his children to gather for a most joyful celebration. 

A few of his children look raggedy and defeated but they display noticeable signs of how much they missed home, and the Food of their Father’s home. 

Then, there are his “difficult children” … Our Father worries about them the most, because they are easily upset. Although they deem their conduct to be irreprehensible, they look miserable and angry. It is so because they look down on many of their brothers and sisters; they judge them with ease and condemn them. 

The Father’s heart is heavy also because, failing to realize that the good they do is the result of his assiduous outpouring of grace, they boast of their good conduct. So, he pleads with them to feel that his home is theirs too; to acknowledge him as their Father and to appreciate all that he makes available to them. 

Today, once again at the Father’s home, we hear the sound of music. That music and dancing are meant for us and for all his other children. This is what he desires so intensely. Mindful of that, in humility and wisdom, we refrain from passing judgment and condemning even the most wayward of our brothers and sisters.  

Rather, we all resolve to count on his infinite compassion and bask in his unfailing love so that our celebration may go on and on.