IV Sunday of Lent

HOME-COMING

Joshua 5:9a, 10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Readings for the IV Sunday of Lent

My sister (and her family) and I were home for a holiday a few years ago. Mum was at the gate to receive us. We had reached in time for lunch. What a spread there was! There was each one’s favourite dish. In the days we were home, mum made “what you don’t get in Bombay”! It was a home-coming signified, among other things, by what we ate! The food was a symbol of our parents’ love and joy at having us home.

Home-coming! This phrase sums up this Sunday’s readings.

In the first reading, Israel is on the threshold of the Promised Land and is about to begin new life in their new homeland. This is signified by what they eat: not the manna they ate in the desert, but “the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain”. In their home-coming, they experience God’s mercy and love.

The gospel recounts the return of the prodigal son. The old life of dissipation and of hard labour on the pig-farm gives way to new life in his father’s home. His home-coming, too, is signified by what he eats: not the pods on which the swine fed, but a home-cooked family feast. The finest robe, new shoes, a ring, and the feast signify the father’s happiness at having his son home. In his home-coming, the son experiences the father’s mercy and love.

There is a homecoming also for the elder son! Though he has always been with his father, he has not lived at home. He, too, experiences the father’s mercy and love.

For Paul, writing to the Corinthians, reconciliation is home-coming! 

That’s the lesson of the parable of the prodigal son: God waits for us to return home and to forgive us; he is not interested in our list of sins and our prepared lines. This is what happens when we approach the sacrament of reconciliation.

That’s the lesson from Jesus’ interaction with sinners: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!” This is what happens at every Eucharist. He welcomes us, and not just eats with us but he gives us himself.

 

Will I, this Sunday and this Lent, “come home”; allow the Father to forgive me; and partake of the feast he has prepared for me? Is there anyone I need to welcome “home”?

III Sunday of Lent

BEAR FRUIT WITH GOD’S GRACE AND IN HIS TIME

Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9

Readings for the III Sunday of Lent

Somerset Maugham, in his autobiography, writes: “I knew that I had no lyrical quality, a small vocabulary, little gift of metaphor; the original and striking simile never occurred to me; poetic flights... were beyond my powers. On the other hand, I had an acute power of observation, and it seemed to me that I could see a great many things that other people missed. I could put down in clear terms what I saw... I knew that I should never write as well as I could wish, but I thought, with pains, that I could arrive at writing as well as my natural defects allowed.” 

The secret of happiness and contentment: becoming what life calls us to become (not becoming what we cannot!).

The fig tree – of the parable in the gospel – was only required to produce figs... and only figs. The owner gave it space and soil (at a premium in Israel), time (it took three years for a fig tree to bear fruit) and nutrients; the owner expected it to yield fruit or yield up the space it was occupying. But the fig tree remained barren.

God gave Israel choice and strategically positioned land, gifts, and grace to be a light to the nations. But Israel remained barren; a barrenness symbolised by the fig tree.

Paul (in the second reading) reminds the Corinthians of the grace the Israelites received: they “passed through the sea… were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea… ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.” He reminds them also of the Israelites’ failure to respond to grace and urges them to be more responsive.

God has a project for each one of us; he gives us the gifts, aptitude, time and help we need to accomplish this project. We need to use all these to become what we are called to become; and to bear “fruit” before God calls time! 

To what is God calling me? What are the gifts and aptitude he has given me? Am I on the way to realising his project/plan for me or am I like the fig tree of the gospel?

II Sunday of Lent

I AM A CHILD OF GOD… 
… AND WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MAKES!

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17—4:1; Luke 9:28b-36

Readings for the II Sunday of Lent

Ben Hooper was a boy who grew up in the mountains of Tennessee. His mother bore him out of wedlock. People mistreated him: adults stared at him and made guesses about his father’s identity; children said ugly things to him… Ben kept away from them.

In his early teens, Ben was drawn to a local church. He would enter in time for the sermon and leave immediately… afraid he would meet people. One Sunday, Ben couldn’t make a quick exit. As he walked out, he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder; it was the preacher! Ben assumed that the preacher was about to make a guess about his father. And he did! The preacher said: “Boy, I know who you are. I see a striking resemblance. You’re a child of… God. Now, go claim your inheritance.” Ben left church that day a different person. 

Later, Ben Hooper was twice-elected governor of Tennessee.

Ben’s discovery of his identity—as a child of God—transformed him and helped him become the person he became!

That’s something like what happened to Jesus on Mount Tabor.

Reading through Luke’s Gospel, one gets the impression that Jesus is searching to discover his identity. A few verses before this passage, Jesus asks his disciples: “Who do people say I am? Who do you say I am?” 

The question is important, and Jesus goes to pray. In prayer, the Father reveals who Jesus is: “This is my Son, the Chosen One.” The confirmation of his identity transforms and transfigures him.

This recognition also gives Jesus his mission. Moses and Elijah talk to Jesus about “his exodus, which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.” The exodus of the Hebrews was a struggled-filled journey; a coming to life through suffering. The transfiguration reveals to Jesus that his path to glory is via Jerusalem and empowers him to walk the road to suffering and death.

In and through our prayer, we need to discover our identity as children of God. This discovery will transfigure us, help us deal with our struggles, and strengthen us to face our “Jerusalem”. 

In this Lenten season, may all our practices help us discover our identity as children of God, the chosen ones; and may we be transfigured and strengthened to face our Jerusalem!

I Sunday of Lent

LED BY THE SPIRIT TO RENEWAL

Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

Readings for the I Sunday of Lent

From Dante’s View in the United States, one can journey down to the lowest spot in the US, Bad Water, or one can move to the highest peak, Mount Whitney. From Dante’s View, any movement must be in one or the other direction: downwards or upwards.

Dante’s View is symbolic of where we stand at the beginning of Lent: a time for choice, for deepening our understanding of our faith, for reflection and renewal. 

Lent – and today’s liturgy – challenges us to take the uphill path. The liturgy talks about a new beginning for Israel, for Jesus and for us.

For Israel: In the first reading, Moses speaks to the Israelites at the end of their desert sojourn. He asks them to offer the first fruits of the land as a thanksgiving to God and prepares them for their new life in the promised land.

For Jesus: Led by the spirit, Jesus spent forty days in the desert, a preparation for his mission, and then was tempted. The temptation was a test before his new life; it was very real because the messiah was expected 

- to bring bread down from heaven (the first temptation); 

- to subject other kingdoms to Israel (second); and 

- to perform dazzling signs to prove his credentials (third)! 

These were areas where Jesus faced temptation all through his public life. Jesus resisted the easy way to prove he was the Messiah and chose the uphill way.

For us: Lent is a time of renewal. When we think of temptation, we think of sexual sins, lying, anger. But the dangerous temptations are to want, for their own sake, 

- wealth: the desire to turn anything into “bread”, and the attitude of relying not on God but on one’s resources;

- status: the desire to make everyone look up to me;

- power: the ability to manipulate people and things for my own ends.

Wealth, status and power, for their own sake, reduce other people to things that can be used for my gain. These foster the prevalent materialistic creed of our society… and not the biblical creed: you shall worship the Lord your God and him alone shall you serve!

On this first Sunday of Lent, we stand at “Dante’s View”. Which way will I go? May the Spirit lead us towards the Lord!