4th Sunday of Lent 2022 – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church, Burns, Oregon, and Missions; March 27, 2022

We have heard one of the most moving and renown Gospel passages of all time. Traditionally it has been referred to as the “Parable of the Prodigal Son”, but more recently it has been called the “Parable of the Merciful Father”. Which is it? I would say that both titles are apt.

We have heard this parable so many times that the repetition may have caused it to grow stale in our ears. Indeed, when we react on an emotional level only we can hardly expect to maintain the intensity, but when the emotion leads u s to understanding, the parable becomes a door that leads us past mere feeling t o the reality of God’s mercy. In this way we move also from a passing emotion to the solid and lasting joy that is the promise of this joyful Sunday of Lent, marked by the rose-colored vestments.

To understand the parable afresh let us approach it from the standpoint of today’s 2nd reading. We heard a strong affirmation: God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. At the same time we received a c ategorical command: We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

In the affirmation God is active, God is reconciling the world to himself, and it might seem that there is nothing for us to do. Then, however, we are commanded to be reconciled to God – we must do something.

Note first, though, that in both cases it is reconciliation to God that is at issue. This is fundamental.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that in the garden of Eden man was established in friendship with God, the Creator, and because of that right order of that fundamental relationship he also possessed an interior harmony within his own person, harmony between man and woman, and harmony with all creation. (cf. CCC 374, 376). When the friendship with the Creator, and with it the gift of sanctifying g race, was lost through Adam’s disobedience, the other harmonies were lost as well; the whole creation fell into disorder. ( cf. CCC 400) The reconciliation and restoration of order within creation is only possible when it is built upon reconciliation with God; peace, both individually and socially, is only possible when peace with God is restored.

Nevertheless, it was impossible for man, on his own, to make peace with God unless God first reached out to reconcile us with himself. This he did by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, to make up for our sins by offering his own life as an expiatory sacrifice upon the Cross. There God reconciled the world to himself in Christ, once and for all. (cf. Heb 10:10)We cannot be reconciled to God on our own terms, but only on his terms.

This objective reconciliation is represented in two parables that immediately precede the
parable of the Prodigal Son. These are the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin. (cf. Lk 15:1-10) The shepherd goes in search of the one lost sheep and restores him to the whole flock. The woman searches the house for the one lost coin. In both cases there is more joy in heaven over the one sinner who repents. That theme will be continued and developed in the parable of the Prodigal Son, but take note that in the preceding parables, neither the sheep nor the coin does anything to be lost or to be found. All the initiative and action are on the part of God.

That is the primary truth that we must always keep in mind. In the words of our Lord himself, You did not choose me, but I chose you. ( Jn 15:16) God’s action and God’s grace always goes before us, preparing the way, awakening us, and also accompanies us sustaining us on the journey. Without him, we can do nothing. (cf. Jn 15:5) That is true absolutely, but it is especially true in the supernatural order, the order of grace; it is especially true that we can do nothing, take no step that leads to eternal life, without the help of his grace.

That is the objective truth, but we live in an extremely subjective culture that puts its priority
on the importance of what “I think” and perhaps even more what “I feel”. If I feel reconciled to God, then I am; If I feel at peace, then I am.

Be reconciled with God. Since reconciliation with God does not depend on my subjective feeling but depends on the objective order he has established; my personal reconciliation depends on my conformity with that order. That is also why it is not enough for me just to confess my sins privately to God, but I must confess my sins to the priest, to whom he has entrusted the ministry of reconciliation, whom he has established as his ambassadors, making use of then means of reconciliation that he has established.

Be reconciled with God. T his requires our cooperation with God’s grace. This now leads us into
the parable of the Prodigal Son.

First, the prodigal son is at fault in his departure from his father’s house. By demanding his
inheritance, apart from being a son in his father’s house, he insults his father and in effect tells him, “You are an obstacle to me; I wish you were dead so that I could receive my inheritance”. This is how Adam originally departed from God and this is how every sinner departs from God. This is indeed the path of modern subjectivism that no longer wants to be conformed to the objective order established by God but wants to become the measure of right and wrong, good and evil. If it is ‘right for me’, then it is right. That is the teaching of the ancient serpent, You will be like gods, knowing good and evil. (Gen 3:5)

Whatever our sin by which we depart from the house of our heavenly Father, we fail to esteem the gift of being a son in the Father’s house, we seek our happiness apart from God, and we end in dire poverty of heart, longing to feed upon the husks of swine.

Turn on the television, browse the internet, log into Facebook, listen to the music, the advertisements, the opinions, look at the images, and you will see and hear so many cries of longing to be satisfied with the husks left by the unclean animal. We cannot sit in judgment on others because we know well that we ourselves have spent time browsing in these polluted fields.

The Prodigal Son came to his senses. He recognized the reality of his situation. He recognized what he had lost through his own fault and which he no longer deserved to have. He resolved to return to his father’s house, demanding nothing, pleading for mercy, and gratefully accepting what little might be given him.

This moment of grace is why the parable is rightly called the parable of the Prodigal Son. It is a moment of grace, but it is also a moment of cooperation with grace. What takes place at this moment in the heart of the Prodigal Son is both the work of God’s grace and the work of the Prodigal cooperating with grace; there lies his own personal greatness. He departs from unreality of the subjective illusion that he had been pursuing and steps into the objective world of truth, beginning with the painful truth about himself. T he most painful part of his confession is I no longer deserve to be called your son. Nevertheless, he does not give way to despair but turns back with hope to his father, seeking mercy. He does not demand mercy, because mercy that is demanded cannot be mercy. Mercy can be sought, but it can only be received as an unmerited gift.

Then the Prodigal Son comes to his Merciful Father; the Merciful Father sees him coming and runs out to meet him. A picture is worth a thousand words and Rembrandt’s famous painting, portraying the prodigal son, kneeling, in rags, wretched begging his father’s forgiveness, while his father embraces him tenderly, showing in his face all the sorrow he had passed, suffering the loss of his son, who was dead, but is now alive, captures this moment better than any verbal description except the simple words of the Gospel itself.

For all the tenderness and pathos of this moment there is a truth here that we must grasp, a truth that the elder brother failed to grasp, a truth that the prodigal did not understand when he left his father’s house, a truth that readily eludes us, though it is often upon our lips. What did the prodigal son lose when he left? What did the elder son have, but never esteemed? They were sons of their father; all that was his belonged to them.

That is the great truth in our relation to God that eludes our grasp, that so easily passes us by as though they were empty and meaningless words.

St. Peter writes about God’s precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape the corruption that is in this world because of passion and become partakers of the divine nature. (2 Pe 1:4) Partakers of the divine nature, like a son partakes of his father’s nature. That is why St. John writes, See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 Jn 3:1) This is a reality, not just a title of honor, like an honorary doctorate given by a university. This is the reality that is given us in the gift of sanctifying grace by which the Holy Spirit, from Jesus Christ, transforms us from within making us truly to share the life and nature of God, as his very own children. God has one Son in eternity, but in creating us he wanted us to share in the life of his Son.

This is the reality of grace that was lost for all of us when the original prodigal son, our first father, Adam, departed from God through sin. This is the reality of grace that the new Adam, Jesus Christ, won for us anew through his death on the Cross. This is the reality of grace that came to us in baptism, was strengthened in confirmation, is nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and is renewed in us through the sacrament of Penance. This is the reality that makes us to be a n ew creation in Christ. This is the fruit of our reconciliation with God, for we not only have our sins forgiven, but we are restored to our place as sons in our Father’s house. This is the source of solid and lasting joy, the beginning of eternal life.

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4th Sunday of Lent 2022 – Sermon by Father Levine

Seek a Deeper Connection with God and Join Lay Cistercians of South Florida

This Content Has Been Reviewed For Accuracy

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