4th Sunday of Lent (Year C) - 27 March
27th March 2022
4th Sunday of Lent (Year C) - 27 March
A reflection on today's gospel reading by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"The conclusion of the parable of the prodigal son pictures the father meeting the prodigal. The father met the prodigal on the road, according to the Scriptures, when he was 'yet a great way off'.
"These words have a meaning for us in the modern parallel of the story. They imply two things: On the part of the prodigal a recognition that the Father’s House, or the Church, is the only place the prodigal children of Western Civilisation can find the Freedom and the Peace they crave; on the part of the Father’s House, or the Church, a recognition of the necessity of hopefulness, and the need of going out into the roads and thoroughfares of the world to meet the prodigal children in an embrace of love, the ring of fidelity, and the cloak of charity.
"Firstly, the prodigal children must return to the Father’s House not only and uniquely because it will make them prosperous, but because it will give them Peace and Freedom, which are the conditions of temporal prosperity. The prodigal son did not return because he wanted the banquet of the fatted calf. He returned because he wanted the love, the forgiveness, and the authority of the father’s house. The fatted calf was the by-product of his return: not the goal that was sought. In like manner Western Civilisation must seek first the Kingdom of God and His Justice, and all these other things will be added unto it. The fatted calf of earthly prosperity is only secondary: it may or may not follow. What is important is the right relation of lives to God. This was the characteristic note of the teaching of Our Lord and therefore of His Church; namely, what might be called political and economic relativity, namely, social amelioration as a by-product of Christianity. Systems of politics and economics are of secondary importance, but not primary; not absolute, but relative. Civilisation can be great under a monarchy or a parliament, under a democracy or under imperialism; civilisation can be good under free trade or tariff, gold standards or silver standards; but no civilisation can be good unless it serves and loves God.
"The Father’s House has its obligation to prodigal Western civilisation, and that is to go out on the road even though it is yet a long way off, and make the return easy. The Father’s House is inoperative except by and through those who are in it.
"The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. Each Catholic therefore is Christ in his little world. Our Lord has no other feet with which to go about doing good than ours; He has no other cheeks to turn to those who preach class warfare than our own; He has no other lips to teach those who sit in the superstition of the Gentiles than our own. Christ fails in the measure we fail to be Christ-like. No one is unimportant; no action is a-moral or a-Catholic; every thought and every deed has spiritual significance. Out to the roads therefore to meet the prodigal!" (The Return from Exile, Radio Broadcast 1936)
Prayer for True Repentance & Pardon
Behold me at Thy feet, O Jesus of Nazareth, behold the most wretched of creatures, who comes into Thy presence humbled and penitent! Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to Thy great mercy! I have sinned and my sins are always before Thee. Yet my soul belongs to Thee, for Thou hast created it, and redeemed it with Thy Precious Blood. O grant that Thy redeeming work be not in vain! Have pity on me; give me tears of true repentance; pardon me for I am Thy child; pardon me as Thou didst pardon the penitent thief; look upon me from Thy throne in heaven and give me Thy blessing. Amen. 🙏💖