Which Son Are We? (Lent IV - Cycle C)

The Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Gospel Reading for this Sunday, is one of the most celebrated and commented on passages from the New Testament. The story is the third of three parables about God's boundless forgiveness in the Gospel of Luke, the first two being the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin. These specific lessons are not necessarily instructions on how we are to manage human affairs but are about how God acts towards us. All three parables depict the unfathomable love of God for us.

Interpretations of the Parable of the Prodigal Son have usually focused on the younger, dissolute brother, as evidence by how the parable is named. But Pope Benedict XVI had proposed that we rename the passage to the Parable of the Two Sons, since they both show problematic behavior. The sins of the younger son are certainly more glaring. In his cultural context, respect for and deference to elders was paramount. A person's identity was, moreover, defined by belonging to a family and by attachment to ancestral land. By leaving his family and the land behind, he cuts himself off from all his relations and friends. By asking for his inheritance up front, he shows that he wishes his father dead and destroys completely their relationship.

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Christ Is the Only Source of Eternal Life (Lent III - Cycle C)

In the First Reading for this Sunday, God reveals his name to Moses, saying, "I am who am" (Exodus 3:14). At first blush, the name might sound evasive or dismissive, as if God didn't really want to give his name. But a closer consideration shows that God's words to Moses convey a deep philosophical and theological meaning.

God doesn't just exist. He is existence itself. He is being itself. The world exists only because God wills it to exist. All of reality is rooted in God's existence.

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The Cross Comes Before the Glory (Lent II - Cycle C)

Over the years, I have traveled to many holy sites, including the Holy Land, Rome, Assisi, and various historic Marian shrines. Of all the places I have visited, the one that stands out the most is the Marian shrine at Medjugorje, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a place I have visited five times. Why? Because of a deep, all-pervading sense of peace that reigns in the whole town. When I am there, I wish that I would never have to leave.

My desire to stay in Medjugorje is perhaps similar to Peter's desire to stay on the mountain with Jesus. He experiences an intimation of Heaven -- of the glory, the beauty, the joy, and the peace that await us in eternity. But much like I have always had to return from Medjugorje to the day-to-day vicissitudes of life, Peter too must come down from the mountain and face what is to come next.

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How the Tempter Seeks to Destroy Us (Lent I - Cycle C)

In the Gospels we see that, before starting his public ministry, Christ goes into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, praying and fasting as he prepares for all that is to come. At the end of his sojourn, he is tempted by Satan. Jesus came among us to be like us in every way but sin. He too undergoes the experience of temptation so as to enter into the human condition fully and also to show us a model for how to resist such spiritual attacks.

Jesus is presented with three temptations - food, power, and glory. Each temptation is a warning to us about a specific spiritual danger and brings to the fore an idol we might be drawn to worshipping in the place of God. Each temptation is furthermore designed to derail Christ's mission as the Messiah in a specific way.

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Prudence, Hypocrisy, and Biblical Law (8th Sunday - Cycle C)

The First Reading, a passage from the Book of Sirach, is from a part of the Bible collectively known as Wisdom Literature, which offers a rich treasure trove of advice for daily living. One of the primary considerations of Wisdom Literature is prudence in speaking, as well as the damage imprudent words can do in life. I am sure we have all regretted many things we have said in unguarded moments.

Needless to say, falling into indiscreet speech is all too easy. But our culture tends to drive us even further in that social media and the entertainment industry both elevate shock value speech. The more outrageous and extreme someone gets, the more attention they receive, which can come with a financial reward.

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The Most Radical Message in Human History (7th Sunday - Cycle C)

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus gives us this command: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). His words might strike us as a tall order. How could we possibly even approximate an attribute of God?

The Second Reading for this Sunday points toward the answer. We are to bear the image of Christ in our being. The more we are rooted in Christ, the more we allow the grace of God to fill us, the more God's attributes will shine out from us. To be like God, we must conform ourselves to Christ, who is God incarnate.

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The New Values Christ Gives Us (6th Sunday - Cycle C)

The teaching of Jesus in this week's Gospel passage has historically been known as the Beatitudes, from the Latin word for blessed. The Beatitudes appear twice in the New Testament, once in the Gospel of Matthew, where they are spoken in the context of the Sermon on the Mount and the other time here, in the Gospel of Luke, where they are a part of the Sermon on the Plain.

In both Gospels, Jesus presents the Beatitudes at the beginning of his ministry. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus focuses only on the blessings of certain conditions of life, and does so more extensively than in Luke. In the speech recounted in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus also reflects on the woes that come with the opposite of those conditions. The Beatitudes can be seen as the opening statement of the public preaching of Jesus, encapsulating a number of the core values he would teach about in his ministry. But, we might ask, why would Jesus consider poverty, hunger, sorrow, and exclusion blessed states?

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