Saturday, March 07, 2015
2nd Week of Lent
1st Reading: Mic 7:14–15, 18–20
Gospel: Lk 15:1–3, 11–32
Meanwhile tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what he had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them this parable:
“There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father: ‘Give me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them. Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started off for a distant land where he squandered his wealth in loose living. Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land.
Finally, he said: ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will go back to my father.’ He set off for his father’s house. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him. The son said: ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But the father turned to his servants: ‘Quick! Bring out the finest robe and put it on him. Take the fattened calf and kill it. We shall celebrate and have a feast.
Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and was near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what it was. The servant answered: ‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration and killed the fattened calf.’
The elder son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. The indignant son said: ‘Look, I have slaved for you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders. Yet you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. Then when this son of yours returns after squandering your property with loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him.’
The father said: ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life. He was lost and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.’”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The elder brother was not necessarily the better son. He himself admitted that he behaved like a slave, not a son. Worse, he stood as hindrance to the family reconciliation.
In our efforts to return to God we will encounter elder brothers who will make conversion difficult. But God’s love will prevail.—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT <message/name/age/address> at i-send sa 4467.