Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Parable of the Prodigal Son - Luke 15:11-32

"Love is patient and kind...love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful...but rejoices in the right...hopes all things, endures all things" and "love never ends." Mercy - as Christ has presented it in the parable of the prodigal son - has the interior form of the love that in the New Testament is called agape. This love is able to reach down to every prodigal son, to every human misery, and above all to every form of moral misery, to sin. When this happens, the person who is the object of mercy does not feel humiliated, but rather found again and "restored to value." …The parable of the prodigal son expresses in a simple but profound way the reality of conversion. Conversion is the most concrete expression of the working of love and of the presence of mercy in the human world...
Mercy is manifested in its true and proper aspect when it restores to value, promotes and draws good from all the forms of evil existing in the world and in man. Understood in this way, mercy constitutes the fundamental content of the messianic message of Christ and the constitutive power of His mission. His disciples and followers understood and practiced mercy in the same way. Mercy never ceased to reveal itself, in their hearts and in their actions, as an especially creative proof of the love which does not allow itself to be "conquered by evil," but overcomes "evil with good."  (Saint John Paul II, Dives in misericordia, #6)

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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21)

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." He replied to him, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?" Then he said to the crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions."  

Then he told them a parable. "There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, 'What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?' And he said, 'This is what I shall do:  I shall tear down my barns and built large ones.  There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"  But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?' Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God." (Luke 12:13-21) 

In the Parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus shows how dangerous it is to put one's faith in riches. In his encyclical On the Development of People, Populorum progressio, March 26, 1967, paragraph #19 Pope Paul VI expressed this same danger in modern terms - "Neither individuals nor nations should regard the possession of more and more goods as the ultimate objective. Every kind of progress is a two-edged sword. It is necessary if man is to grow as a human being; yet it can also enslave him, if he comes to regard it as the supreme good and cannot look beyond it. When this happens, men harden their hearts, shut out others from their minds and gather together solely for reasons of self-interest rather than out of friendship; dissension and disunity follow soon after. Thus the exclusive pursuit of material possessions prevents man's growth as a human being and stands in opposition to his true grandeur. Avarice, in individuals and in nations, is the most obvious form of stultified moral development."

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Art
Parable of the Rich Fool - Rembrandt

Parable of the Mustard Seed - Mark 4:26 - 34

Parable of the Seed and 

Parable of the Mustard Seed

"Small beginnings with the help of God's 
Grace can lead to big outcomes." 
Father James Kubicki 

Our Gospel today on the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time is from Mark. It is the parable of the seed and the mustard seed.  Here is the commentary from The Navarre Bible New Testament on this passage.     

The parables of the seed and the mustard seed are so simple that is it easy to overlook their deep significance. They are based on the idea of growth; that of the seed speaks of the Kingdom's intrinsic effectiveness and gradual development (v. 27); that of the mustard seed has to do with the disproportion between the first state (when it is the smallest of all seeds: v. 31) and the last (when it has become a huge bush: v. 32).  

The seed is fruitful, but is must be sown in good ground; if it is, then it will eventually produce the fruit of virtue in the human heart: "Our good desires are the seeds sown in the soil; our first good works are the first shoots they send up; our perseverance in good works is the coming of the first ears of grain; and our perfection in good works, the mature grain ready for harvest." (Saint Gregory the Great, Homiliae in Ezechielem, 2, 3, 5). 

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Art

Parable of the Mustard Seed Icon - Nicusor Dumitru 

The Parable of the Talents - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Parable of the Talents 

(Matthew 25:14-30)

In today’s Gospel, the master entrusts to his various servants, different amounts according to their abilities. The servants are expected to manage the money and give the master a return on his investment. Two of the servants invest it and return to the master a one hundred percent gain.  The third servant lets fear get the best of him and decides to bury the money.  The master praises the first two and criticizes the third.  This sounds kind of harsh until we understand what Jesus was saying in this parable. 

Let’s say the third servant invested the money but lost it all and was not even able to return the initial amount to the master.  What would Jesus has said about this servant.  Commentaries have talked about just this situation in order to help us better understand the Gospel message.

If the third servant had invested his Talents wisely but lost everything the master would have praised him as he did the first two servants.  We see this in the lives of the Saints. Those who were martyred for their faith look as if they lost everything. Yet God sees things differently. 

In this Gospel, God is the master and we are the servants.  God gives each of us talents; some are in the form of money, some in the form of skills.  He expects us all, not to hide or bury our talents, but to use them bravely, wisely and for His greater glory.  

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The Parable of the Two Sons - Matthew 21:28 -32

The Parable of the Two Sons

"Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: "What is your opinion?  A man had two sons.  He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards changed his mind and went.  The man came to the other son and gave the same order.  He said in reply, 'Yes sir,' but did not go.  Which of the two did his father's will?" 

They answered, "The first."  Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.  When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did.  Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him." (Matthew 21:28 -32)

Although the chief priest gave the answer that Jesus was looking for, Jesus still condemned them by saying,  “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.”  What made them more worthy of the Kingdom over the chief priests and the Pharisees, is that when they heard the teaching of John the Baptist, they heeded his words, repented their sins and followed the way of righteousness.  The chief priests did not do this.  

In this Gospel, the chief priests and Pharisees who would not believe the words of John the Baptist, yet at the same time boasted of their faithfulness to God’s teaching, were like the son who says “I will go” but then does not go.  With their lips they speak of righteousness, but their actions do not reflect their words. 

The tax collectors and prostitutes were like the son who said “I will not,” but afterwards changed his mind and went.  The tax collectors and prostitutes found in Jesus what they had been looking for in sin.  Their sin would never fulfill what they longed for, only Jesus could and did. 

The essential message of this Gospel is simply that God values actions over words.  Or as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words.  

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Photo
Arroyo Seco Terrior of Monterey County - L. A. Momboisse

The Parable of the Landowner (Matthew 20:1-16)

In today’s Gospel, (Matthew 20: 1-16) Jesus tells us about a landowner who hires people at different times of day and then at the end of the day pays them all the same wage.  When we hear this it just doesn't seem fair.

But looking back to today’s first reading we learn, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.  As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55: 8-9)  Paying everyone the same wage for different amounts of work may not seem fair to us, but our ways are not our Lords ways. 

In this Gospel the Landowner is God and the day’s wages are the Kingdom of Heaven.  The Kingdom of Heaven is not something that we can earn, but rather a generous gift that our loving God gives us.

Saint Thomas Aquinas put it this way, “This head of the household is God, whose family is the whole world…Those are called “hired” who should work for a reward, wageworkers… But to be a good wageworker, he must labor for his lord’s benefit: thus if we labor in the vineyard of the Church, we should return the whole thing to God…But God did not make an agreement with the workers he hired late because he always returns more than he promises…The Lord knew that if he had called them before (earlier in the day), they would not have stood (been ready).  So they are hired at the time when they consent, and they arise more efficaciously…”

In other words, God desires that everyone come to know Him, serve Him, and love Him, yet He also knows that not everyone is ready at the same time.  So He stands patiently waiting, knowing just the right time to “hire” each and every laborer for His Vineyard.  

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Pictures
Payday G. M. & A. J. Reid Ranches 2010 - L. A. Momboisse 

Third Sunday of Lent - Parable of the Fig Tree

 

Third Sunday of Lent

March 3, 2013

 

Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15

1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12

Luke 13:1-9
 

 "I shall cultivate the ground around it
and fertilize it; it may
bear fruit in the future." (Luke 13:8-9)

 

The  readings for the Third Sunday of Lent call us to allow Our Lord to enter more deeply into our lives, calling on us to repent and transform our lives in order to bear good fruit. 

 

"The first reading is the familiar scene of Moses and the burning bush.  When God invades the bush, the bush is radiant, but not destroyed.  Similarly, when the Lord enters us, we are not destroyed, but rather we are more fully alive.

 

In the second reading, St. Paul provides a perennial warning to all those who have received blessings from the Lord, saying "whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12)

 

The Gospel selection is the parable of the fig tree, which calls us to reform our lives and bear fruit before it is too late.  We must not be afraid of opening ourselves to His presence in our lives, and we must not become complacent as "Sunday Catholics" as though God doesn't expect our very best. God wants to enter into our experience and liberate us, so that we may be instuments of His mercy and love to others." (Catholic Scripture Study International, Lent: The Road to Redemption, Cycle C, page 25)

 

  

“If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.” (Psalms 95:7-8)

 

The Urgency of Repentance

 

Today's Gospel begins with Jesus addressing the question as to why bad things happen to certain people. "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?...Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them, do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?  By no means!  But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!"  (Luke 13:2-5)  

 

Sometimes God permits us to be tried by suffering in order to lead us to a greater good, or just to get us back on track, walking our journey in communion with Him.

 

None of us are guaranteed a tomorrow, or even another moment.  By using these two examples Jesus portrays a sense of urgency to our call to repentance.  In the second reading Saint Paul also warns us against complacency, "whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall." There is an urgency to do our best to try and always be right with God.   

 

 

 

"The desire for God is written
in the human heart,
because man is created by God and for God;
and God never ceases to draw man to himself.
God wills everyone to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth."
(CCC #27, 1 Timothy 2:4)

 

God Is Patience

 

The Gospel ends with the parable of the fig tree.  Though this does not give us a reason to dismiss Jesus' earlier warning of urgency to repentance, or Saint Paul's warning not to be complacent, it does give us some good news, that God is patient. 

 

The people listening to Jesus as he spoke this parable would have understood the barren fig tree to be Israel, but as members of the Church we are all by extension that barren fig tree. 

 

In this parable, God the Father is the owner of this orchard where the fig tree was planted.  God had cared for this tree for three years patiently waiting for fruit to grow.  But no fruit had been produced and God asked the gardener to cut the tree down for it was exhausting the soil of nutrients that could cultivate and fertilize the other trees of his orchard. 

 

The gardener in this parable is Jesus who intercedes for us [the fig tree] with God [the owner].  Jesus offers to cultivate and fertilize the ground for another year giving the tree one more opportunity to bear fruit.

 

During this season of Lent, we are invited to honestly examine our lives, removing anything that keeps us away from God. As we draw near to God, He will cultivate our souls with the life of the Holy Spirit. 

 

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Art
The Vine Dresser and the Fig Tree - James Tissot
The Parable of the Fig Tree - Jan Luyken 

Fourth Sunday of Lent - Rejoice The Prodigal Son has Returned to the Father

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Laetare Sunday
The Prodigal Son has Returned to the Father

March 14, 2010
March 10, 2013
March 6, 2016 

“What choral dance and high festival is held in heaven, if there is one that has become an exile and a fugitive from the life led under the Father,….and then, famished and destitute, and not even filled with what the swine eat, has arisen and come to his Father!” (Taken from an oration on Luke 15 by Macarius Chrysocephalus who quotes from a work of Clement of Alexandria)

The fourth Sunday of Lent is like the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) one of the two “joyful” Sundays the Catholic Church celebrates. It is called Laetare Sunday (Latin for “rejoice”) taking its name from the entrance antiphon of the Mass, “Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her.” (Isaiah 66:10)

In today’s Gospel we hear the parable of the prodigal son, from Luke 15:1-3, 11-32. The prodigal son, who was reckless and wasteful, has returned to the Father, resulting in a joyful festival not only celebrated on earth but upon high in heaven. This parable teaches us once more that God is merciful.

“Although the word ‘mercy’ does not appear [ in this parable] nevertheless expresses the essence of the divine mercy in a particularly clear way....Mercy – as Christ has presented it in the parable of the prodigal son – has the interior form of the love that in the New Testament is called agape. The father first and foremost expresses to him his joy that he has been 'found again' and that he has 'returned to life'. This joy indicates a good that has remained intact: even if he is a prodigal…..”(John Paul II, Dives in misericordia, 5, 6)

Jesus is addressing this parable to the Pharisees who are offended that He would be so compassionate toward sinners. As the Gospel opens we hear the words of the Pharisees, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Jesus responds with the parable of the prodigal son, expressing His desire to save each and everyone.

This parable speaks from three perspectives, that of the youngest son, the father, and the eldest son. All of us, if honest, will be able to relate to the youngest and oldest son in this parable. At some point we have all made their journey. The father represents God, our Father in heaven who is always there waiting with arms wide open.

The youngest or prodigal son demands his share of inheritance while his father is still alive. He then “gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living.”

Fascinated by illusory freedom, and taking what he feels is rightfully his, he turns his back on his father setting out to make it on his own. Once his early inheritance is spent he finds himself in misery obliged to feed swine, and even worse desiring to eat their food. Hungry, he reflects on all that he has lost, and begins his journey back to his father. It is not clear where his remorse comes from, his physical or spiritual hunger, or all that he has lost, but it is enough for him to realize he has offended his father, and God. The prodigal son begins his journey home, the process of conversion, or re-conversion.

The focus of the parable then turns to the father who acts as God does whenever one of His prodigal children return, mercifully watching and waiting patiently ready with open arms to receive us at even our smallest of gesture toward Him.

“But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him,” expressing through his action total forgiveness before his son even speaks words of sorrow or utters his apology. The son taking courage from his father’s actions said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” The father then bestows on him the symbols of new life; the best robe, one of immortality, a signet ring with a divine seal, and shoes not perishable, but those able to step on holy ground, all suitable for a heavenly journey.

The oldest son epitomizes the attitude of the Pharisees to whom Jesus directs this parable. Upon hearing the response of his father, the oldest son reacts with anger and resentment toward his brother. If he had truly loved his father he would have been filled with joy at his happiness, yet the loving kindness of his father toward his brother irritates and enrages him and he acts out with self-righteousness, anger, resentment, selfishness, and jealousy.

This Lenten season is a good time to draw closer to God or turn back to Him, if we have been away. God is all merciful acting as the father in this parable, and He “loves us so much that we do not have to have perfect sorrow for our sins we just have to admit them, even if we are just sick and tired of the pain our sins cause us or if we are afraid. God doesn’t care what motivates us to seek his mercy he just loves to forgive.” (Father James Kubicki, S.J.)

Apostleship of Prayer

Fr. James Kubicki, S.J.

The Prodigal Son

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The return of the Prodigal Son by Barbieri
The return of the Prodigal son by Rembrandt van Rijn
The return of the Prodigal Son by Murillo

Third Sunday of Lent - A Need for Conversion & A Call to Repentance

Third Sunday of Lent 

A Need for Conversion
A Call to Repentance

“Bad things happen and while God allows this,
we shouldn’t blame God,
but we should do what we can to
never contribute to evil ourselves.” Father James Kubicki S.J.

 Apostleship of Prayer
Father James Kubicki, S.J.
A Need for Conversion

In today’s gospel from Luke 13:1-9, Jesus addresses the question as to why bad things happen to certain people. Was it because they had led evil lives and deserved it? In the gospel, Jesus clearly states, “By no means!” (Luke 13:3, 5)

Last month an earthquake brought devastation to Haiti, some suggested it was because the Haitian people were “cursed” because they made a “pact with the devil.” Today there are those who believe good and bad happen strictly because of karma, the Eastern philosophy where the sum of a person’s actions in this, or some future existence, a person’s “fate” is based on what good or what bad one does. But is this how God works?

In today’s gospel Jesus clearly warns that those who are victims are not to be blamed for their situations. Christ calls each of us to respond to evil, first of all by examining our own conscience and then commit to “clean up our act.” “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Luke 13:5) In other words, we have two choices, life and death. To have life is to live guided by God. To choose death is to turn one’s back on God wallowing deeper into the clutches of sin.

God created each of us with a free will. Each moment of each day brings me face to face with a choice. The choice of life or death, virtue or sin, will it be my way or God’s way? Either way bad things are going to happen in my life. My life has been a wonderful series of events bringing joy, challenges, peace, pandemonium, wealth, poverty, health, sickness, life and death. As I look back over these events, the real difference in these situations wasn’t whether there was joy or sadness, the real difference was during those periods of trial was I asking for God’s will and guidance or was I turning my back on God. When I freely choose God as my partner, the challenges in my life created peace instead of pandemonium.

Our gospel ends on a positive note with the parable of the barren fig tree. (Luke 13:6-9) This parable presents a story about the continuing patience of God with those who have not yet repented and turned away from sin. Here the fig tree is barren and the farmer wishes to cut it down because it is exhausting the nutrients from the soil. Jesus replies “leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.” (Luke 13:8-9)

During this season of Lent, we are invited to honestly examine our lives, through an examination of conscience removing anything that keeps us away from God. As we draw near to God, He will cultivate our souls with the life of the Holy Spirit. Disasters happen every day, all around us. Our lives are but a fleeting moment and every moment is precious. “Merciful and gracious is the Lord.” (Psalms 103:8) So “if today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Psalms 95:7-8)

“Every time we are really faced with a choice to make, it is God inviting us to a more ardent ascent in love and telling us: “My friend, move up to the higher position.” (Luke 14:10). And that is why, if we wish temptation to cease, the first thing to do is to place our trust in God. Whatever desire may rise in us, whatever the moment, whatever fear of falling takes hold of us, we have but to say: “My God, you are there, you see me, you yourself will draw from this storm what is worthy of life, what will lead me closer to you, what will give me greater freedom and at the same time make me more united to you.” Father Maurice Zundel