Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

We are God’s prodigal children.
God is always waiting for us to come back to him.

Scripture

“But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20

Reflection

We have all heard of deathbed confessions and about people who return to the sacraments after having led dissolute lives. When we hear these stories we can have feelings of resentment. We think that such grace is undeserved. We think those who have tried each day to follow the commandments have taken a harder way to salvation. We probably have a lot of sympathy for the older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11‒32).

Pope Francis addresses these issues in his Angelus homily of September 15, 2013. Pope Francis tells us that there is a danger that we presume ourselves righteous enough to judge others. In this way we also presume to judge God, thinking that he should punish sinners and condemn them to death instead of forgiving them. Such attitudes, Pope Francis declares, risk our being kept out of our Father’s house.

Pope Francis says that if “in our heart there is no mercy, no joy of forgiveness, we are not in communion with God, even if we observe all of his precepts, for it is love that saves, not the practice of precepts alone” (Angelus, 15 September 2013).

We always need to remember that we are the prodigal sons who every day turn our backs on God’s grace. “Each one of us is that son who has squandered his freedom on false idols, illusions of happiness, and has lost everything” (Angelus, 15 September 2013). Fortunately for us all, God awaits our plea for forgiveness, which he will answer with his mercy.

Pope Francis

“The God who waits for us. God who waits and also God who forgives. He is the God of mercy; he does not tire of forgiving. We are the ones who tire in asking for forgiveness, but he does not tire.”
Homily, 28 March 2014