Roman Rite
Ex 32, 7-11.13-14; Ps 51; 1 Tim 1.12 -17; Lk 15.1 – 32
Ambrosian Rite
Is 5, 1-7; Ps 79; Gal 2.15 – 20; Mt 21.28 – 32
Second Sunday after the martyrdom of St. John the Precursor
1) The logic of mercy.
The reason why Jesus today tells three parables is explained by St. Luke at the beginning of chapter 15 of his Gospel: “Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed these parables.“(See verses 1-3).
In the parable of the sheep lost and found, the shepherd does not interrupt his search until he finds it. It is a stubborn and persevering search and the shepherd is under no circumstances willing to abandon the sheep to its fate. In this story Christ presents a faithful, persevering and tenacious God. God’s heart has one big wish: that every man is not lost and that if he is, the tenacity of the Father consists in being always the Father for his children.
In the parable of the lost drachma it is described the joy of a poor woman who finds what is necessary for her living. To search for this the woman lights a lamp because, at that time, the houses were quite dark and without the light she could not locate her precious coin. When light reflected on the coin making it shine, then it was possible to find it. This teaches us that we can lose ourselves, but we must not stop to “shine” so that we can be found more easily.
In the parable of the lost son (better known as the prodigal son) we contemplate the Father who is faithful to his son and rejoices when he returns to his house, that is a place of forgiveness and celebration.
The Father forgives and hosts a party for this lost and unwise child, who, for the desire to have it all for himself, demanded and obtained “only” his part of inheritance and then dissipated it. The merciful Father not only welcomes again the son but restores his dignity of son (see Pope Francis, General Audience of August 30, 2016). The son receives more than it asks. Grieved for his sin, the young man returns to his father and asks to be received “only” as a servant. To a man who would be content with a servant’s heart, the father gives back a son’s heart.
The prodigal and lost son delivers his pain to the father and the father confirms a love to which the child previously and absurdly had rebelled.
We, too, with our sin reject the free love of God the Father. But when we return to Him converted by his merciful righteousness, we get a dress for the party, a ring and sandals.
To each of us who has converted, the Father says, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him.” What was the first garment of Adam? He was naked. His dress was to be the image and likeness of God, that is, to be his son. This is our dress: being children next to the Father. Being his children is our dress, our dignity, our identity.
To each one of us, who returns contrite to the Father, are given the ring and the sandals that confirm that we are sons and not slaves. In fact, to give the ring with the emblem meant to give the seal that implied to have all the family assets and not just one part. The sandals were worn by free men, because slaves went barefoot
2) Justice and love: mercy.
I think it is useful to remember that the mercy of God is inconceivable to man, because it transcends his thoughts. Before comprehending it , I realized it thanks to this event. I was in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, for a course in German, and one day the teacher asked the students to talk about what each of us considered most characteristic of his Country. They knew I was coming from the Vatican so I had to speak of Vatican City. In the ten minutes I had been given, I spoke of the Vatican as a state “functional” because it allows the Holy Father to exercise his “function” as Head of the Universal Church at the service of truth and charity.
After me, came a young Ukrainian, who told the parable of the prodigal son. I was amazed at this choice, but I was even more surprised by the reaction of the four students of South Korea, who said: “It’s really a good story, but it is not human.” These young Asians had realized that the parable could not be the result of the human mind. Only a divine mind could conceive it, only a divine love could achieve it, only a restless human heart can search for it, and only a contrite human heart can receive it and practice it by the works of mercy.
In its essence, mercy expresses the bond of love that unites the Creator to the creature, the father to the son and the children among themselves.
The important thing is to live life as a persevering return to the house of the Father. A return through pain, sorrow and the conversion of heart which means a desire to change and a firm decision to improve our life.
Back to the house of the Father through the sacrament of reconciliation in which, by confessing our sins, we put again Jesus Christ on us and become again his brothers, members of God’s family.
This God, Father rich in mercy, not only waits “anxiously” that we return to Him, but is the first to come to us, repentant sinners. He reaches us while we are still running, embraces us with love and without reproaching our failures and covers us with grace and gifts.
Let’s not stop contemplating with wonder the “father of the prodigal son”, who” is faithful to his fatherhood, faithful to the love that has he always lavished on his son “(St. John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, IV, 6). This loyalty is expressed by the readiness of the hug and the joy of the feast.
God, in his and our house, is waiting for us, like the father of the parable, although we do not deserve it. The seriousness of our sin is not important. The important thing is that we, prodigal sons, feel the nostalgia of his home, open our hearts to God’s mercy, amazed by the faithful love of the Father, and rejoice in the divine gift of calling ourselves his children and being his children.
3) Virginity, tenderness, mercy.
Commenting this parable of the prodigal son, especially the phrase “When he was still far off, his father saw him, had compassion, ran, embraced and kissed him,” Pope Francis said: “How much affection!” And He added: “He saw him from a distance, it means that he was constantly waiting for him. He was waiting for him, tenderness is something beautiful. “With the word “tenderness “, the Holy Father does not intend an action based solely on emotion or feeling. Tenderness is to accept each other in the totality of what it is. A mother is tender not because gently caresses or kisses her baby, but every time she cares for him with tenderness, solicitude and the gentleness of God’s goodness. Already in the Old Testament the prophets, speaking of God, used a language that recalls the tenderness, intensity and totality of His love, manifested in creation and in the whole history of salvation and that has its culmination in the incarnation of the Son. God, however, always surpasses every human love, as the prophet Isaiah says: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you “(Is 49, 15)?
The consecrated Virgins in the world are faithful to their vocation when practice chastity as a love for God. In this love is included the love for neighbor that awaits for gestures of mercy and tenderness. With a humble life they go beyond appearances, and discreetly show the tenderness of God that each one of them carries in herself. In this world they follow the invitation “Let your life be a special witness of charity and a visible sign of the kingdom to come” (Ritual of the Consecration of Virgins). With this strong affection they radiate the dignity of being brides of the merciful Christ and testify that those who surrender to the love of God are in joy and peace. Coming close with tenderness and love to situations of suffering and weakness, these consecrated women “illuminate by example the value of the consecrated life so to make it shine the beauty and the holiness in the Church” (Pope Francis).