Catholic Relief Services Collection
More than 60 years ago, the U. S. Bishops Overseas appeal was established. Each year on the fourth Sunday in Lent, this appeal is held to support agencies, such as Catholic Relief Services, that fund works of famine relief, development and peace. In 2005, the collections was renamed the Catholic Relief Services Collection.
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in civil rights.
A strong proponent of non-violence, the Baptist minister had been inspired by the life and teaching of Mahatma Gandhi in India, whose life he had studied while attending Crozier Theological Seminary from 1948-1951.
King was impressed with how Gandhis non-violent social protest through fasts and marches was able to life the oppressed India from under British domination. The young minister wondered to himself, Could that also work in the United States?
From February 2 through March 10, 1959, Dr. King and his wife Coretta went to India as guests of Prime Minister Nehri to study Gandhis philosophy and techniques of non-violence.
On this day in 1922 Gandhi was sentenced to six years imprisonment for civil disobedience.
The Prodigal Son
The Prodigal son is a parable of imperfection, a parable of which none of the pieces fit perfectly.
Look at the younger son. Why did he come home? Because he was out of money. He had no one to help him, and he could eat better in his fathers house. His motives were mixed it isnt a piece that perfectly falls into place.
Then theres the elder son. He pouts outside, angry and hurt because his father didnt appreciate him. It doesnt quite fit perfectly in the story of reconciliation.
Then there is the father. He should have shown appreciation to his older son. Its too bad that it took a crisis for him to tell the elder son how much he appreciated him. Those words should have been spoken much sooner and many times. The father was not perfect.
Jesus is telling us a great deal about real life. In real life, the pieces never fit together perfectly. We are more than willing to forgive other people if and when everything falls together smoothly . . . if they fully realize what the problem was and accept it . . . if the others around me could accept it all without misunderstanding. Then there could be reconciliation. But things dont fit together that way. They are like this parable.
Jesus tells us that things will never be all together until the kingdom. Meanwhile, we have to put up with a lot of things that are not as they should be.
What this parable says is that God loves us and forgives us even when things are not all together our motives are mixed, we overlook many things, we are unappreciative. Yet God accepts us and can deal with that for now.
What God asks is that we, in our turn, be willing to deal with people in the same way.
Spend some quiet time with the Lord.