Third Sunday in Lent

At first sight, today's readings seem to deal with food, glorious food and more food. The people, Moses has led from Egypt have finally reached the promised land. The manna has stopped and they now eat the "fruit of the earth and the work of their human hands."

In the response, we say: "TASTE and see the goodness of the Lord."



Finally in the Gospel, we have the story of the Prodigal Son. The younger son's philosophy is "Eat, drink and be merry", this is followed by a period of hunger and a desire for food, even if it is the food that the pigs will eat. It ends up with dining on Roast Beef and gravy, and you can throw in with mashed potatoes or french fries, whatever your imagination allows you.
 
We too have come to celebrate the Eucharist and be nourished on the fruits of the earth and vine which will be changed into the Body and Blood of Christ by the Power of the Holy Spirit. But Jesus tells us that before we eat and drink at the Table of the Lord, we must first be reconciled to one another and this brings us to the Gospel. It is the most famous and well known parable of the Gospels. The Story of the Prodigal Son or more accurately the story of the Prodigal or Extravagant Father. This  is so well known that it has entered even secular literature as the best known story of all times.
 
The late John Powell SJ is probably the most published writer on prayer and spirituality. He was asked by his superiors to give a talk on prayer to a group of his fellow priests. There were some 90 of the priests gathered. John Powell began to get nervous and prayed: "Dear Lord, help me to do a good job." A few minutes later, he grew more panicky. "Hey, JC this is JP - if you did not hear me the first time. And then as clearly as you could hear on your cellphone, he heard a voice, Hey JP, this is JC i heard you loudly the first time. So you think you are going to a performance are you? Well, I did not send you there for that purpose. Look at the group of priests, do you notice the 6-7 disshevelled priests at the back to the left. They have awoken each morning frightened. They have been fighting the battle of the bottle each day. They fall 7 times, they get up 8 times. And to you right, there are 10 or so priests with just mediocre talent. They have spent decades in the class room or in parishes or giving missions. No one has ever come and said, "Thank you Father for all you taught me. or that was a brilliant retreat, or you were excellent on TV and I watch you regularly."  Your mission is to tell them, that I love them, and I love them dearly.

That my friends, is the message of the parable of the Prodigal Son. : the message is that the Father loves us, no matter what we do. Some may talk about "Life is not fair" or even about "Ever forgiving God" - and that is right. But the deeper and underlying message is the mistake of the two sons. The younger son thought that he had lost his father's love because of his riotous living. The older son thought he had won his Father's love because of his keeping the father's commandments. Both fell short of the mark. No matter what their lives turned out to be, they could neither earn nor loose the Love of the Father.

We fast, we pray, we give alms during Lent and this sharpens our senses to experiecne God's love. But even if we see only "through a mirror darkly" - we can rest assured that God has and always will love us - no matter what.

Appendix:  Patricia Sanchez tells us this story:

After hanging himself, Judas fell into the Hell of despair, disillusionment and chaos. For 1000 upon 1000 upon 1000 of years, he tried to climb out of the slippery slopes of Hell. Each time he reached the top, he would slip back into the abyss. Finally after what seemed an eternity, he climbs out, totally weary and exhausted. He climbs out of the pit, only to find that he has landed in the room of the Last Supper, and there is Jesus sitting with the other 11 apostles. Welcome Judas, says Jesus, we have been waiting for you. We could not start this meal without you.

So whatever you sin, your weakness, your addiction, do not ever make the mistake of saying:

God will punish me
God will send me into hell
God will get me.
It just ain't true.