4th Sunday of Lent, Year C
Since we began the season of Lent this year we have been talking about how we can change our lives as Christians and go back to God. We learnt that we can change our lives to become better disciples of Christ by Reflecting on our spiritual lives and sins, by Repenting of these sins; by Returning back to God through Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving and by Renewing our lives to be good children of God. Last week we learnt that Reflecting on our spiritual lives means taking a moment in our busy schedules to rethink the direction our lives are going as Catholic Christians, to find out if we are heading in the right direction to God or if we heading in the wrong direction, away from God. Today with the parable of the prodigal son, we heard in today’s gospel reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 15:1-3, 11-32, the Church reminds us of God’s mercy, generosity, compassion and love for us as we can see in the actions of the Father of the prodigal son. This parable also emphasizes and points out the causes of sin or what makes us sin, which explains the reason why we fail in implementing the second and third practices in our journey back to God this Lenten season which are Repenting from our sins and Returning to God. Hence, the parable of the prodigal son explains why we fail to Repent from our sins and Return to God. These are the reasons why we fail to Repent from our sins and Return to God: Pride, Greed, Selfishness and Ungratefulness.
Pride - a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
Greed - an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.
Selfishness - means to be concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself thereby seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others.
Ungratefulness - means not feeling or showing gratitude. So how can we fight all these ills that make us sin or leads us into sin or make it impossible for us to repent and return to God? We can fight these ills by:
Being Humble - that is having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance or the quality or state of being modest and lacking in pride or arrogance.
By Accepting of our faults which means being honest to embrace and accept our wrongs and being ready to work on them to make ourselves better.
By Returning to God which means wholeheartedly and sincerely going back to God especially this Lenten season through Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s us follow the example of the prodigal son in repenting of our sins by humbling ourselves, by accepting our faults and by wholeheartedly returning to God through prayer, fasting and charity this Lenten season.
